Satisfactory Sequel - a bridge from Hunger Games to Mocking Jay

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2013)

I truly think that the original, The Hunger Games, as a film, irrespective of what one thinks of its fidelity to the book, is a modern classic. I thought it realized its dystopic future world beautifully and tragically with impeccable and well-conceived costume design, set design, acting, and script. It was fully contained within itself even though they knew when filming it that it was the first book of a trilogy and were already planning to do a sequel. I consider the first one to be at a minimum, a top 500 all-time movie.
I just saw Catching Fire. I enjoyed it for what it was - about a 7 on a scale of 10. It is NOT a stand-alone movie but a good installment of a superior serial. It rather mirrors the 2nd episode of other sci- fi/fantasy trilogies such as the original Star Wars (now 4,, 5, and 6) - very much in the dark vein of The Empire Strikes Back. Also comparable to the middle Rings movie and to a lesser extent, Back to the Future II.
The acting in Catching Fire is still terrific. The new parts of the set design all underscore the darkness of President Snow's reactionary reaction to what happened in the first movie. Not that much new in costume design, but still fine. But it seems much more repetitive and the Games themselves much less suspenseful than the original tableau. Like most serials, the first 20% is spent bringing the viewers who missed or forgot what happened the first time back up to date.
In short, if you were expecting Catching Fire to be another modern classic in the league of The Hunger Games, you'll be disappointed. If you are expecting installment II of a serial - a bridge to take you from Hunger Games to Mocking Jay, than you have a perfectly fine version of that.