Trailer Reviews - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Trailer #2

Earlier today at Comic-Con, they released the latest trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. This trailer was then uploaded to Yahoo! Movies for those who didn't go to Comic-Con. I'm one of those guys who sat at home waiting to review this trailer like I did the last one (to see my review of the previous Catching Fire trailer, click here.) Again, like I said in my previous trailer review and my pre-review for this film, I will more than likely deal with spoilers, since the film is based on a book which I have read. This review is geared towards those who have also read the book.

To start things off, here is the link to the trailer in question. I can't link it like my last couple trailer reviews, as the trailer isn't currently on YouTube that I could find. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/the-hunger-games-catching-fire/

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.

This new trailer offer much more than the previous, which is something I like to see. I'm not a fan of when trailers reuse the same footage in every trailer and only offer a small handful of new clips. This one recycles a few shots, but the majority of it is new material. This trailer also touches on a major plot point of the story, the Quarter Quell. The Quarter Quell was hinted at in the end of the previous trailer, but never outright shown or explained. We were only treated to an exchange between President Snow and Heavensbee: "Her entire species must be eradicated." "Her species, sir?" "The other victors. Because of her, they think they're invincible."

Now I'm going to get into the shot-by-shot review. I'll be doing this a bit differently, since trailers skip around with shots, I will be grouping similar shots and review them as a group, rather than one by one.

The trailer opens with Katniss entering Victor's Village, where all the District 12 victors live after the Games. This is a scene from early on in the book.

While this scene of Katniss and her sister Prim appeared briefly in the previous trailer, none of the dialogue used in the first trailer is recycled. It also touches on something that really drives Katniss's motivations in the book, which is that her acts of rebellion have an effect on not only her, but those she cares for.

Catching Fire is directed by a new director, Francis Lawrence. As such, not everything can be expected to be the same. One thing that I find both different and very interesting is the shots of The Capitol shown in this new trailer. We weren't treated to very many shots of the Capitol in the previous trailer, and the shots in this one seem different to me than how I remember the Capitol looking in the previous movie. In The Hunger Games, I always thought the Capitol looked a lot like Corescant in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, but the Capitol in this film looks more like a cross between Corescant and a modern day city with normal skyscrapers. All that being said, in the trailer over-all, I do get more of a sci-fi feel from this trailer than I did in the entire first movie.

Advanced technology was hinted at in the first film, but this trailer certainly shows a bit more. Like in the above picture of Katniss and Peeta being filmed by a camera system. They doesn't appear to be any crew, but it's a trailer. We're only treated to two shots of it. This shot also begins to show the complicated relationship (or lack thereof) between the two, which Peeta then explains.

Also prevalent in this trailer is the threat of rebellion. The trailers (and I wouldn't be surprised if the movie also takes this view), but Gale seems to be the leader of the rebellion. There are many shots of rebellion, (some recycled from the first trailer) including the execution of Rue's family member, the attack on and burning of the Hub, and Gale's whipping.

Dang, she grew several feet in only a year...

In the book, the kiss between Katniss and Gale was only mentioned as already happened, but the movie (being a movie) needs to show it. It also takes it a step further by proving that President Snow has been spying on Katniss's activities via cameras, as in the trailer, we see that Snow has video evidence of the kiss. The President's threat against her family is also shown dramatically.

The trailer also expands upon the Quarter Quell, a topic that is a major plot point in the book and almost completely absent in the first trailer. We are also teased with brief glimpses of Katniss's wedding dress and Phoenix dress.

 And the final topic in the trailer: The Quell itself. The 75th Hunger Games in which past victors are chosen and must fight to the death. We are shown shots of victors training, including a brief shot of Finnick Odar, Enobaria, Gloss and I think Johanna. As the trailer closes, we get a brief glimpse of the arena, and Katniss dives into the water.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Coming to theaters November 22, 2013. I liked this trailer, as it did not use too much footage from the previous one, and they do give more information on the driving plot point, the quell. I will say though, they don't shown that much of Peeta or Haymitch in this trailer. It reminded me of the latest trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in which several main characters, including Thorin and Gandalf, are oddly absent.

I still can't wait to see this movie but until then, May the Odds be Ever in your Favor.