【電影簡介】

凱特尼斯和皮塔以優勝者的姿態回到家鄉，兩人都獲得了豐厚的獎金，從此不需要再為衣食憂慮。凱特尼斯原以為生活就此安定了，卻沒想到都城的總統會突然現身，告訴她必須和皮塔繼續扮演相愛的情侶，甚至必須在所有人的關注下步入婚姻。原來凱妮絲在饑餓游戲的最后關頭，迫使都城改變游戲規則的舉動，被許多凱匹特的百姓視為反抗都城暴政的象征，除了讓都城臉上無光外，更激起許多人的造反情緒。都城總統雖然對凱特妮絲恨之入骨，但是又不能讓這個萬人矚目的人物憑空消失或死亡，否則所有人都會知道都城總統害怕百姓造反。

相反的，凱特尼斯和皮塔必須要繼續待在聚光燈下，以顯示都城將一切都控制在手心。 凱特尼斯動了念頭要逃跑，甚至著手尋找逃跑的方式。可惜事情的發展超出她所預想的。第八特區率先發生暴亂了。都城立刻在所有特區都增派大批的維安人員，可能的逃脫路線都被圍堵住。凱特尼斯放棄了抗爭的念頭，與皮塔公開準備結婚事宜時。

盡管每年都會舉辦一次饑餓游戲，但每隔二十五年會擴大規模，以不同于以往的方式舉辦這被特別稱為“大旬祭”的活動。第一次的大旬祭是將規則改為由各特區投票選出貢品人選，第二次將貢品的數目改為每個特區抽出一男一女，換言之，將犧牲者的數目從二十三人增加為四十七人。凱特尼斯和比皮塔加的是第七十四屆饑餓游戲，因此緊接著就是第三次的大旬祭。透過電視，都城總統宣布了第三次大旬祭的規則：從各特區的優勝者中選出貢品。可悲的是，第十二特區歷年來只出過3個優勝者，二男一女。因此，凱特尼斯是女性簽箱中唯一的候選人。男性候選人雖然有兩位，皮塔和他們的戰術指導黑密斯，但皮塔是絕對會自愿參加，以保護凱特尼斯安危的。于是，凱塔尼斯和皮塔又被送回都城去參加饑餓游戲了。只是不同于上次，所有人都知道凱特尼斯這次是必死無疑。 凱特尼斯被逼入更危險的競技場，承受著更大的壓力。所有參賽者以前都曾贏得比賽，凱特尼斯需要應付的對手都擁有極高的生存技巧和豐富經驗，她和皮塔這一次更懂得結盟的重要性，只是他們必須設法想通誰能信任、誰不能信任。凱特尼斯要掌控自己的命運，不能做別人布局中的棋子，她深感要成為一個英雄必須經歷磨難與掙扎，而她心中的最大愿望就是回家。

【音頻文本】

When I was young and ignorant, I could never figure out why adults so often failed to understand their younglings. I mean, they've all had their youthful years and must surely be able to recall how their own adolescent minds once worked. But the truth is, as years pass, I find myself losing the ability to process teenage fun. This revelation dawned on me after the screening of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire."

It was a Friday night in a fully packed cineplex. As the closing credits emerged, half a dozen teenage girls behind me burst out with frenetic exclamation. I was totally startled because, although director Francis Lawrence's sequel is a great improvement from the first installment, it still carries pretty obvious defects. All I could remember at that point was the frequent exchange of looks of impatience with my friend.

The story in Catching Fire is pretty predictable even for those who haven't read the original work by Suzanne Collins. Of course, the lead characters will eventually end up in the arena of another Hunger Games, after some twists and turns. But it is exactly those twists and turns in the new piece that my friends and I found difficult to digest.

The movie begins with the winners at home coping with their love triangle. Then, all of a sudden, they aresent on a tour around the 12 districts. In the place of a preparation for the audience to warm up to the plot, we have the President paying Everdeen a visit and dropping some menacing words to confuse things up even further. Then, during the tour, the audience is finally allowed to catch a glimpse on the Capitol's totalitarian reign and the signs of resistance: a backgrounder, which could totally have been laid in the first installment.

Now, due to the failure of the first piece, this transitional episode has to devote most of its screen time to complete what was missing in its forerunner; consequently, the actual Hunger Game lasts too briefly before the movie comes to an abrupt end.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is an intellectually challenging films, not in the sense that it is smart,but because viewers needs to make a conscious effort to connect the dots and fill in the gaps with imagination. Any thoughtful adults in their right mind would be annoyed by that process, but the teenagers probably love it because they haven't developed the habit of examining their own thoughts and the costumes are cool enough as a distraction.

Despite Jennifer Lawrence's improved acting skills, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire deserves a three out of ten.

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