The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth

Synopsis:
Katniss struggles to return to normalcy amidst the trauma of her experiences, but the government sees her as a threat and announces a special version of the Game that pits previous victors against each other.

Impressions:
Part of the problem I have with this story is that it feels a lot like a "here we go again" deal. Yes, the stakes are raised by having all the competitors be former victors and the government's stepped-up campaign to whip the restive districts in line, but a lot of the novelty's gone and you have to be pretty invested in the characters and the setting to want to keep going. I liked the first one well enough, but my interest didn't go much beyond passing curiosity. I will say that the alliance element in this new game was interesting. You saw a sort of ad hoc alliance in the previous film, but here it's formalized and you can see the victors collaborating to a degree to stick it to the government that's betrayed them. Of these new competitors (or old ones, I guess), I particularly liked Jena Malone as the firebrand Johanna and Jeffrey Wright as the cerebral Beetee. If you weren't that big one the first movie, I'd probably rate this as a take it or leave it, but if you liked the first one well enough, it's a solid watch.

I will say, though, that on second viewing, after seeing the third film, I was less fixated on the sense of it being a rehash and appreciated the setup for the finale. While this setup is important, the movie doesn't stand as strongly on its own, which is problematic when viewing the movie on its own as opposed to part of the continuum of the series.

Rating:
Watch It