Probably the Worst of The BATTLE ROYALE Wanna-bes

Rating: 1/10 (27 June 2014)

Wow, another really bad made Sci-Fi channel formulaic stink-fest. "Catching Fire" fails to bring any of the creative fun of the second BATTLE ROYALE movie. This second one is pretty juvenile, coming across as mainly a trite rehash of the first (and a bore). Jennifer Lawrence, who was captivating in the first Hunger Games, is too fine an actress to be treated to such a thoughtless and mundane script. I suppose we will watch the third installment just to see how it all turns out, but hopefully the creators will make a production that exceeds this by-the-numbers disappointment.
This movie was given so many great reviews, I expected to be entertained. Instead, I struggled to stay awake. The writing was uninteresting. The acting wasn't great. And even good actors like Donald Sutherland or Woody Harrelson can't make a poorly written script any better. We finally stopped watching about 40 minutes in, when both of us turned to the other and realized we had lost interest a while ago. It was a shallow carbon copy of the first movie, with none of the suspense or intrigue of the Hunger Games. The screenplay was an unambitious bore fest. seems very likely the third movie will rise above this lackluster mess.