Catching Fire is a great movie that manages to do everything much better than the original.

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2014)

Catching Fire is the highly anticipated sequel to The Hunger Games. Obviously. Now, I must say, The Hunger Games series is one of my favorite book series. They're well written, intense, and just downright cool. As for the first Hunger Games movie, I enjoyed it too; however, I do like the book better. I was excited for Catching Fire and my hopes were high. Was it as good as the original Hunger Games movie? No. No it wasn't. It was BETTER! LEGASP! Let's start off with the story. If you have no idea what The Hunger Games movies/books are about, then A: you live under a rock, and B: it involves a society where the government forces kids to go into a yearly tournament where they kill each other. Catching Fire is about the tributes revolting against the government in a tournament where all the previous victors are fighting each other. In the book series, Catching Fire was my favorite. And it translates very well to the big screen. It's got an interesting plot, it's well written, and it really shows us what a society of this caliber is like. Just awesome. Not the actual society, the story. The story is awesome. Yeah. The acting in this movie is great. Let's start off with Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. She's awesome. She's very stoic, yet becomes emotional and/or ready to throw down when she needs to. Katniss is just an awesome character and Jennifer Lawrence owns the role. And she's kind of good looking. That helps too. She's also surrounded by other good actors. Josh Hutcherson does a good job, Liam Hemsworth does a great job, Elizabeth Banks does a great job, Woody Harrelson does a great job, Philip Seymour Hoffman does a great job, and the guy who plays President Snow (I forgot his name, shut up) did a great job. There isn't a weak link in any of the acting. Catching Fire fixed some of the flaws that The Hunger Games had. One of them is the shaky cam. The first movie had so much camera shaking in it, it got me extremely nauseous and I had to leave the theater. This movie has a very still camera most of the time. It helped me see the action and the people better. Thank you, new director! Something else this movie fixed from the first is the chemistry between Katniss and Peeta. In the first movie, their chemistry felt very stale and unbelievable. In this movie, it feels real. They worked great together in this movie. However, there are a few things that I need to address for this movie. This isn't really a negative; it's just a heads up. Before you see the movie, I'd suggest reading the book, if you haven't. There are some things in the movie that will make much more sense if you read the book. Plus, if you haven't read it, you'll think the ending will be very abrupt. Again, it's not a negative; I'm just letting you know. A negative that I have with the movie is that there's no wow factor. There isn't a scene that really stands out. Sure, the acting's great, the actions intense, and the movie itself is well shot, but there's no scene that will make you say, "Wow. This movie is epic." I was just hoping there would be a standout performance somewhere. I also feel that the movie pretty much ignored Haymitch's backstory. In the book, Haymitch had a long, elaborate backstory on how he entered The Hunger Games and won. In the movie, it mentions it a couple of times, but never goes into real detail. It's too bad, because Haymitch has a great backstory. Oh well Overall, Catching Fire is a great movie that's marginally better than the first. It has great acting, awesome action, no shaky cam, and an interesting plot. I have high hopes for this movie series and hope the Mockingjay movies succeed.