Mature, intelligent and hugely enjoyable.

Rating: 8/10 (22 November 2013)

Katniss is back. But despite surviving the 74th Hunger Games and being reunited with her family in the Victor's Village within District 12, all is not well for the strong-willed heroine. Keeping up appearances with fellow survivor Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) is a burden, holding on to her true love Gale (Liam Hemsworth) is a struggle, and keeping her family safe from the malevolent President Snow (a sneering Donald Sutherland) is increasingly difficult. Yet that's not the worst of it; Snow has declared the 75th year of the Games (aka the Quarter Quell) as a past-victor event only. So it's round two under the dome for Katniss, Peeta and 22 previous winners, most of who are trained killers.
Before The Hunger Games was released two years ago the general feeling was that it was just the next young-adult novel adaptation attempting to cash in on the Twilight phenomenon. How wrong we were. Following on from the magnificent original and determined that their franchise would be built on maturity and intelligence, Lionsgate went all out to get the screenplay right, employing Oscar-winning writers Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine). As a result, Catching Fire refuses to pander to the lowest portion of the target demographic by evading clichés, melodrama and shallow sentiment; instead instilling a sense of real peril and genuine emotion into the proceedings, thus generating a level of gravitas seldom seen in these types of films.
Replacing Gary Ross in the director's chair, Francis Lawrence (Constantine) proves himself to be an outstanding choice. Demonstrating restraint in the quieter moments and a flair for gripping action in the louder sections, Lawrence feels completely at ease with this blend of drama and thrills. Understandably, he has now been hired to finish off the series (which will see the third book split into two movies). Although there's no dispute about who is the cherry on top: Jennifer Lawrence. Classy, fierce, passionate and commanding, last year's Lead Actress Oscar winner reinforces how good she really is with another mesmerising performance in a role that is now impossible to imagine with anyone else filling it. With Mockingjay parts 1 and 2 coming out in the next two Novembers, Katniss won't be leaving our memories anytime soon.