The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Soundtrack Is A Perfect Counterpart To The Film
No matter how wonderful a job a director does, it seems that nowadays, the soundtrack will make or break a movie. There’s a reason we don’t make silent films anymore. And even when there were silent films, an orchestra would play to provide some complement to what was on the screen. But that is beside the point. The real point is, the release of a movie soundtrack is just as highly anticipated as the actual release of the film. The soundtrack for the latest installment of the Hunger Games trilogy, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, was no different.
Related: Review: Catching Fire Extinguishes the Curse of the Sequel
This entire album is absolutely perfect for the film. II can’t get over what an amazing job the artists did capturing the essence of the book to help bring the story to life. Coldplay’s “Atlas” emerged as the theme song for Catching Fire. I think the song really captures the emotion of the movie. The lyrics in the first verse match up perfectly with what is actually happening in the movie. The music is perfect for the song; there is a very intense buildup through the second verse to the last chorus. It gave me chills every time I listened to it.
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I think my favorite song was “Elastic Heart” by Sia featuring The Weeknd & Diplo. While it had a different feel than the rest of the songs as it is more electric than indie, it complemented the rest of the soundtrack nicely.
“Lean” by The National, another wonderful song, was one of the darkest songs to appear on the album. The lyrics, one of which was Dying is easy, definitely reflected the conflict between Katniss and President Snow through the movie and his single-minded obsession with seeing her dead no matter the cost.
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There were some big names, both new and old, on the album. Christina Aguilera definitely has a new hit in her love song, “We Remain.” One can only imagine that this song was written for those rooting for Team Gale, whose forbidden romance with Katniss was highlighted at the beginning of the movie. But Gale also has an anthem in the song in The Lumineers’ “Gale Song.” It broke my heart, because it highlighted the struggle that not only Gale, but everyone that Katniss loved back home in District 12, had in having to watch her participate in the Hunger Games for the second time and see her be someone completely different from who she was.
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Lorde, who really is establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with in the music industry, is so incredibly powerful. All I could imagine while listening to the song is walking down a dark corridor lit only by torches knowing that you can’t turn back, and all that faces you is death and pain and sadness and anger.
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The entire soundtrack really impressed me as did the film. There were big shoes to fill as many movie sequels sometimes fail to live up to the first movie. However, Catching Fire surpassed all expectations and the soundtrack backed up the movie as a strong counterpart. I highly suggest that you set aside a few hours and listen to it on repeat while reading the book and revel in the artistic genius of the artists on the album.
The soundtrack is available for purchase online at iTunes, in stores, and for free on Spotify. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, released on November 22nd is currently playing in theaters.