A great movie but with some noticeable faults

Rating: 7/10 (26 November 2013)

*I have read the books so this review may be biased.
I'll try not to sound like a book snob because I despise people who compare novels to the film adaptations. However, my main problem with this iteration of the Hunger Games series was the pacing.
The beginning of the film immediately establishes the harsh circumstances of which Katniss, Peeta, and those of district 12 are forced into. Also it establishes Katniss' complex relationships between her family, friends, and most importantly her lovers, which she tries desperately to balance. However, soon after the main characters have been established the film seems to go into hyper drive as it jumps from a somber moment between Katniss and her family to her and Peeta heading off on their victory tour. And this is my biggest complaint about the film.
The film seemed like it tried to fit too much of the narrative, from the novel, into the first hour. But I will give credit to the writers, the novel does contain many heavy handed themes and narrative plots that would have easily made this film even longer. Yet, I felt disoriented when the film would build up one scene and suddenly cut forward and jump to the next. Characters would be introduced without much build-up, and certain shot locations that would be ideal to create tension between characters would only be seen for minutes before the next scene was introduced. But the worst offense was the editing of the dialogues. I'm sure that not many people had problems with the dialogue, however, I was taken out of several moments mainly because of the timing of characters responses. When a character would ask a question it would be answered immediately with an impromptu response that was perfectly delivered, and due to the camera placement it felt like the actors were reading from a test manuscript rather than fluidly interacting with one-another. Again this is probably a personal preference, but adding both the jumping from scene to scene and the awkward dialogue cuts made the film feel like it was playing at 1.5x speed.
But the film regains it's footing once the contestants are in the arena. The second half of the film does an amazing job in recreating some of the most memorable moments from the book, and even causing me to squeeze my armrest from the intense action sequences. Also, some of the character development that should have been utilized in the first half of the movie is properly employed in the second half.
To wrap things up, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is an admirable attempt and a serviceable sequel to the superior first film. Although my review may lead you to believe that the film is disjointed and unorganized, it still maintains to be an entertaining film. It's grittier, more violent, and double the bad-ass Jennifer Lawrence you could ask for. And running at around 2 1/2 hours you'll definitely get your moneys worth and this film is by far the best holiday blockbuster of 2013.