Trailer reviews - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (SPOILERS!!)

As I said in my pre-review, here is my Trailer Review for the upcoming movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I'm not gonna lie, I am very excited for this movie more so than other movies I'm interested in seeing this year (second only to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug). Before reading this Trailer Review, however, I must warn you: I will more than likely spoil the plot for the film. If you haven't read the book, you might want to refrain from looking at this review. You might also want to just read the book. General rule: Books are better than their movies. Unless it's The Wizard of Oz or The Prestige.

Here is the trailer itself:

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is an upcoming action-adventure film based on the novel Catching Fire by Susanne Collins that follows Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark as they tour the districts of Panem on their victory tour after winning the 74th annual Hunger Games. What they don't realize is that their defiance of the rules that they demonstrated in the Games has made them into role models for a rebellion rising in the districts. This prompts President Snow to mark them both as well as the previous Game victors as threats to be resolved in the Quarter Quell.

Okay, now onto the actual trailer.

The first clips we see in the trailer are what I'm guessing to be from the part where Katniss and Peeta are on the Victor's Tour, and I'm pretty sure this is District 11, the home of Katniss's friend/ally Rue in the previous book/film. The mayor of the town introduces them as victors...

...And out they come. Effie still looking as much like Lady Gaga and/or Nicki Minaj as ever. This scene is a good way to open the trailer, because it was the point when Katniss really starts to realize the gravity of her situation and where she now stands with The Capital.

Throughout this part of the trailer, we hear a conversation between President Snow and Plutarch Heavensbee, discussing how Katniss can easily become a threat and how she must be eliminated. Now this conversation was not exactly in the book, but the implication of something similar is suggested, seeing as President Snow has his hand in the design of the Games and Heavensbee is the Head Game Maker of the 75th Annual Hunger Games. Now from a filmmaker's standpoint, adapting a book written in first-person present-tense is not the easiest, as the book will deal exclusively with just one character's point-of-view and his/her perceptions of other people's point-of-views. So for a movie like this, adding scenes like these is simply logical so that the audience (who didn't read the book) can get a better understanding of what's going on outside of Katniss's limited perspective. You can say what a character is thinking or figuring out in his/her head in a book, but in a movie, you have to show it. So added scenes like these don't bother me one bit.

Another reason I find this piece of the trailer interesting is that it shows Heavensbee playing his double-agent cards. For those who read the books, we know that Heavensbee is secretly a leader of the rebellion, and his influence as the Head Game Maker is a pivotal plot point in the story. I think it is wise, for those who don't know the story to introduce him like this.

The trailer intercuts Snow's and Heavensbee's conversation with clips of Katniss and Peeta's appearance in District 11, leading up to the execution of Rue's family member (at least I think he was family, forgive me but I've only read Catching Fire once so far).

Katniss and Peeta are then informed by Hamitch that they are in a more desperate situation than they realize, and that to avoid more conflicts and deaths of loved ones, they must play along with The Capital's little games (lol puns). Katniss and Peeta keep making appearances as the "Star-Crossed Lovers from District 12"... but of course, Katniss can't keep it up.

At this point, we are treated to scenes of open rebellion while Gale informs Katniss that she has become the symbol of the rebellion.

In the middle of this section of the trailer is a short exchange between Katniss and her sister Prim. I'll be perfectly honest, this is the one part of the trailer I can't place to any specific part of the book.

The rebellion scenes continue on, showing the destruction of The Hub, which I don't recall being directly witnessed in the book, but hey. Like I said, you can say something in a book, but in a movie you've got to show it.

The trailer then teases us with Katniss and Gale's forbidden kiss. I'm sure all the girls out there were happy.

Following that, it shows another important point in the story: Gale's whipping.

This part shows when Katniss jumps in front of the whip for him, but I'll be honest, it looks more like he punches her full on. Maybe they picked this take on purpose as a means of misdirecting the viewers until the actual movie when they use a different take that actually shows her getting whipped in the face. Trailers are known to do such things. They are also known for covering up blood and such, not just for censorship for younger audiences, but to mislead the viewers. In the book, the whip leaves a mark across Katniss's face, which freak her make-up artists and Effie out, but no such wound is shown in the trailer. But I think this is just another case of trailers covering the blood up digitally. They did this in the Harry Potter trailers as well, pictured below:

The above shot is what is seen in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 trailer, and below is what is seen in the actual film. See what I mean?

One of the last shots that they show is Katniss, sad in the woods. This scene could be one of three possible scenes from the book. It could be (my first impression) when Katniss meets the two escapees from another district running to District 13, or when Katniss visits the lake and meets up with Gale, or just Katniss going there on her own to be alone. Like I said, the first one of these possibilities that came to my mind was meeting the escapees.

The trailer ends by returning to Snow and Heavensbee's conversation. At this point, the Quarter Quell is hinted at, but nothing specific is shown.

November 22nd. Can't come fast enough, am I right? Overall, this was a pretty good trailer. I noticed that it left several important plot points out of the picture, which is very smart. The purpose of a trailer is to get the audience interested, to give them enough information about the plot, but not to give the plot away. Most trailers nowadays are not that good at keeping important things out of them, especially movies based on popular books. They gave a lot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows away in their trailers. But this one has no mention of Katniss and Peeta's planned wedding, only hints at the Quarter Quell, and does not show any of the other significant characters in the second half of the book, such as Finnick, Beetee, or Johanna.

What did you think of the trailer? Are you as excited as I am? Let me know in the comments below!