Vast improvement over the first movie. Still a little lacking, but definitely worth seeing for $10.

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2013)

I bought all of the Hunger Games audiobooks and listened to them several times. I know the story backward and forward. I wasn't thrilled with the first movie at all. I thought it was completely devoid of emotion in what should have been a moving picture. It was just OK.
Breathe easy Hunger Games fans, this one was a vast improvement. Considering the volume of material, they did an admirable job of squeezing it into a little over two hours. The whole thing was a still a little rushed, but the important parts were done very well. Jennifer Lawrence was tremendous again and Josh Hutcherson was decent. When you read the books, you have a picture in your head of how the events play out. This movie really did match my ideas of how things looked. The director did a tremendous job of creating the quarter quell arena - it was perfect. The second book required a little more imagination based on the things that happened in the arena, and all of them looked realistic. Considering the amount of revenue these movies generate, I still think they could have put a little more money into the CGI because it still looked a little cheap in parts. But overall, I was pleased. I took six other people to the show this time and all of them enjoyed it much more than the first movie. More time could have been spent on the arena action, but the pacing was much better in this movie.
The Finnick casting wasn't perfect, but the guy is a good actor and passed the test. Johanna Mason was a pleasant surprise, the woman nailed her part. I really liked the job she did, and she actually turned her into a likable character. As expected, PSH was good as Plutarch. Woody Harrelson is one of my favorite actors and he was just OK in this one. They can't seem to get his character right...it's just off a little. Liam Hemsworth once again was god-awful, and the romance sequences in these movies are terrible.
Overall the movie was solid. Money well spent.