Girl on Fire

President Obama may have to declare Jennifer Lawrence a “national treasure” in order to preserve his legacy.  (Clearly Obamacare is not going to work, and his new negotiation to halt the Irani plan to develop nuclear capabilities is clearly doomed to failure.)

Our Thanksgiving gift this year may very well be “Hunger Games, Catching Fire”.   It is a pleasure to view from start to finish, with stellar performances by several fine actors, including Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Woody Harrelson. 

But “Catching Fire” is Jennifer Lawrence’s vehicle; the others are just along for the ride.  Every two years, Jennifer Lawrence morphs into Katniss Everdeen, literally transforming her persona into this character.  It is difficult to envision any other actress who could assume such a complex role with so little apparent effort. 

In 2012, Jennifer Lawrence assumed her position as a “Hollywood Diva” with a well-deserved Oscar for her performance as Tiffany in “Silver Linings Playbook”.  Prior to that “coming out party”, she enamored audiences as Raven/Mystique in “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “X-Men First Class”, clearly showing a propensity for excelling in the world of Sci-Fi.  It appears Jennifer Lawrence will be a force to be reckoned with in the real future, not just the apocalyptic one in science fiction movies. 

From Diana Rigg’s black attire as “Emma Peel” in the TV series, The Avengers, (1961 to 1969), to a latter day younger version, Jessica Alba, who enticed the viewers as James Cameron’s “Dark Angel” (2000 to 2002), audiences have embraced the “battling female heroine”.   Sarah Michelle Gellar left the black attire behind, capturing five seasons of audiences with her semi-comical, yet engaging “Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997-2003).   My personal favorite may have been Kate Beckinsale’s portrayal of Selene in the movies, “UnderWorld” (2003) and its sequel “Underworld Evolution"(2006). 

But I believe that Jennifer Lawrence may have taken it to a different level for one major reason.  The vulnerability that she brings to the role of Katniss Everdeen is the defining factor.  It is inescapable.   She oscillates from fragile teenager to heroine throughout the movie.  You get occasional glimpses of her inner toughness, her tenaciousness, and her refusal to cave in to the powers-to-be.  But she never lets you forget that under it all she is gentle, compassionate, and vulnerable but not breakable. 

Oscars are not given for performances in science fiction movies as a general rule.  But that does not mean that there have never been great performances in sci-fi movies.  Walter Pigeon was phenomenal in “Forbidden Planet”(1956),  as was Michael Rennie in the original “The Day the Earth Stood Still”(1951) .   In Avatar (2009), Zoe Saldana certainly shined as Naytiri, and who doesn’t love Chris Pine as the new and improved James T. Kirk in “Star Trek: Into Darkness”.   A strong argument can be made that it is far more difficult to achieve critical acclaim in a sci-fi movie because special effects and fantastic story lines traditionally dominate this genre.   In “Hunger Games; Catching Fire”, the movie is not dominated by special effects or the story line.  Jennifer Lawrences graces the silver screen with her performance as Katniss Everdeen and it is a safe bet that she will continue to endear herself to audiences for the next two segments of the Hunger Games saga.    Lionsgate may have arrived at the same conclusion, based on the fact that Ms. Lawrence received the paltry sum of $ 500,000 as base salary for “The Hunger Games”, while being upgraded to $ 10 million for “Catching Fire”.   

Three teenagers interviewed at the theater gave the movie a rating of 9 out of 10. However, it is clear that this movie’s popularity crosses the spectrum of age and ethnicity.   The one point loss may be a result of a select few scientific anomalies.  A meeting with Stephen Hawking will have to be arranged to analyze whether or not these anomalies concur with “String Theory”.  Until then let’s just revel in a truly magnificent cinematic performance by Ms. Lawrence. 

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