While most already know if they'll be plunking down their hard-earned money for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in a couple of weeks, those who think it'll just be more of the same might want to take a closer look. The sequel to last year's $690M hit will begin to take on an even darker tone, which might sound crazy for a story about young people being forced by the government to kill one another. And you begin to see some of that tonal shift in the first official clip, but more than that it also provides us a look at the different camera style offered by new director Francis Lawrence.
When Gary Ross departed the sequel some months ago, there was concern whether Lawrence could pick up the baton and run with it. What this footage shows is that he isn't attempting to emulate Ross's frenzied shaky cam approach, instead choosing to give the film a more standard cinematic style. It seems to work, at least in this tense exchange between Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) about how best to fight the oppressive rule of the Capitol. It'll be interesting to see whether Lawrence retains this style for the action scenes, or if he reverts to something closer to what Ross did.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens November 22nd.