A Loyal, Honest Interpretation, it Lacks the Book's Unspoken Energy and Vibrance

Rating: 6/10 (27 January 2014)

Somehow even darker and more brooding than the original, which was no sunshiny walk in the park itself. Following the financial success of the first film, a lot of rough edges and awkward missteps have been ironed out in time for the next act. Most notably improved is the effects work, which had seemed just a bit too much like a video game cutscene. The new arena is convincing and beautiful, the glitz and glamor of The Capitol has been amplified appropriately, and the intricacies of the cast's showy wardrobe (which memorably underwhelmed in the first film) are far better realized. The plot is efficient, if telegraphed and incomplete: its sudden, jolting cliffhanger (which occurs, literally, right in the middle of a sentence) left me flat, even if it is laid out in precisely the same way in the source material. Much of the primary cast spends the duration wrapped up in their own sorrow, quietly brooding over their predicament while the roles of their flashier, more PR-friendly foils have been trimmed down to mere cameos. Such concessions are understandable, as the film does run quite long as it is, but the accompanying shift in tone makes this a very redundant, single-colored ride. An improvement over the first film in many ways, but the first act really drags its feet and there's a puzzling lack of enthusiasm, energy or suspense to it all.