The Canadian red carpet premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was not your regular night at the movies. As soon as I walked into the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto I found myself face to face with a fully uniformed peacekeeper who stood his ground, unmoving, as I gawked at what I was seeing. Ten seconds later it finally clued in that there were loud “boom” “boom” boom” sounds constantly playing over the loud chatter of excited Hunger Games fans. As I made my way up the stairs (which were of course lined with even more peacekeepers) I finally saw the source of the sounds: men dressed in “district” gear banging on bongos. It was definitely an experience in itself.

I was fortunate enough to snag a spot on the red carpet thanks to my amazing internship, with stars Jena Malone who plays Johanna Mason and Sam Clafin who takes on the role of Finnick Odair. Look below for the pictures I took on the red carpet!

As for the film itself, the critics are right, “The good news is that the new edition is a better crafted film than its predecessor.” I’ve been a fan of the books long before a film was announced, and to be honest the first film did not meet my standards. I thought the characters were well cast and Jennifer Lawrence needs to be my best friend, but overall the film felt like it had a Twilight-like feel to it. Which is in no way a good thing. With a completely new director for the sequel, Catching Fire blew away my expectations and I’m glad Francis Lawrence is here to stay for the remaining two movies. Expect a lot of action, adventure, more developments in the love triangle that involves Katniss, Peeta and Gale and of course a huge cliffhanger ending that’ll make you want to invent a time machine and fast forward to November 2014.

I would love to hear your thoughts/comments on Catching Fire! Let me know what you’re looking forward to seeing in the movie, or what you loved/hated!

–@Naomi_ML