A Sequel That Manages to Be Better Than the Original

Rating: Null/10 (2 December 2013)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) don't have much time to celebrate their victory in the 74th Hunger Games because their win starts a revolution that President Snow (Donald Sutherland) doesn't want. The latest edition of the Hunger Games have previous winners being forced to play once again. THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE is a very rare sequel that actually manages to be better than the original film. The original picture was certainly very good but this one here is just so much deeper and draws you much more into the story, the characters and the relationships going on. I will admit that I've never read any of the books so I can't compare this film to them. In some ways I guess this gives me a fresh and clear look at the movies and it's really surprising at how much you care about these lead characters. You certainly care about their struggles in regards to the love story but everything involving their roles in possibly rising up against the empire is also very entertaining. It certainly doesn't hurt that we're given some excellent performances with Lawrence and Hutcherson leading the way. The two of them work extremely well together and no matter if they're battling enemies or each other, you believe both of them and their relationship. The supporting cast is excellent as you'd expect with Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci and Phillip Seymour Hoffman all doing find work. The film also works better than the original when it comes to the special effects. You can tell that much more money went into the effects here and this leads to some wonderful moments. The sets are all extremely good as are the scenes at the start when we see the poor villages. THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE doesn't have as much action as the first film and obviously it's just building to the conclusion of the story but it's highly entertaining even through its long running time.