Book vs. Movie - Catching Fire

Welcome to the 75th Hunger Games!

I mean, welcome back to another Book vs. Movie Showdown! I love these posts so much. Can't you tell? Anyway, I'm back with another one, and this time it's a sequel. I haven't read sequels in so long! Or actually, if you have seen my earlier postings, I usually read the first book of a series and don't go on to the next one for many years. It's a bad habit, but I'm slowly getting over it.

You guessed it! This showdown is all about Catching Fire, the second installment of The Hunger Games! It's only getting better and better in my opinion, and I'm very excited to see which one wins. Are you ready? Let the games begin!

* * * * * * * * * * S P O I L E R S   B E L O W   T H I S   L I N E * * * * * * * * * *

So the first thing I have to say is: wow.

Both the book and the movie were incredible. This one is going to be a hard one for me, especially since after reading the book, I can see that the movie did a pretty good job of following the book. I love it when movies do that, don't you?

While I was going through the book, I just kept thinking about what parts they could have added to the movie to make it even more exciting, or which parts they took out of the movie that probably would have slowed down the pace. I think it's important when directors and producers are able to make creative decisions to make sure that the movie is a good one, even if it means that not everything is exactly like the book verbatim. Sometimes, it makes it work out better for both the source material and the movie.

There were certain scenes in the book and the movie that - while they were pretty much the same - gave me completely different feels or reactions. Cinna's death in the book didn't seem as final as it was for me in the movie. Katniss's reaction to Cinna being brutally beaten by the guards made it that much worse to witness it than just hearing Katniss's reaction to it in the book. I cried a lot more in the movie than the book. Another one was Mag's sacrifice. In the book, Katniss sees her convulse before she is dead, but I was still way more emotional about her dying in the movie. The way she bravely walked in the mist without any hesitation, after kissing Finnick goodbye for the last time just completely broke my heart.

Some of the differences that I can recall:

• First meeting between Katniss and Plutark (Book)
• Katniss meeting the runaways from District 8 (Book)
• The discovery of the facade surrounding District 13 (Book)
• The wedding preparation (Book)
• What happened in District 11 during Katniss and Peeta's Victory Tour (Book)
• The interaction between Katniss and the Victor-Tributes during training (Book)
• The revelation of Plutark's involvement in the games (Book)

I am so glad that I have the opportunity to read this series for the first time while doing a rewatch of the series. It definitely allows me to appreciate the movies in a new light. But, once again... there can only be one winner. Unless I should pull a Katniss and Peeta and start a rebellion? Hmm...

I definitely loved the details that the book included much more than the fact that the movie didn't include it. I think it would have made it that much better. I definitely recommend reading this book. It was much better than the second one in my opinion.

What do you think? Do you agree, or should the movie have won? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.