Better than the original

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2013)

In the tradition of blockbuster trilo-quadrilogies Catching Fire is better than the original.
Having read the books about a year before the first movie, I can't attest to how close the movie was to the book, but after what I saw on screen, I don't care. The plot flowed and intensity scaled effortlessly; nothing felt rushed, nothing felt left out.
Jennifer Lawrence is a rare talent and still fully commits to the role of Katniss even though she's struck gold already with Silver Linings and probably Hustle as well. She's matured the character from the save-my- skin scrapper of the original to the nuanced survivor in Catching Fire. I do know Kat has a lot of inner-dialogue in the novel, and the script is commendable in the fact that there is zero voice-over. They lean heavily on Lawrence's ability and she delivers impeccably.
The rest of the cast was better-than-average, and it was a delight seeing the characters come alive. Joanna and Finnick were played with the perfect blend of charm and ferocity, and Beetle is a character that could have easily been overdone, but wasn't. I also appreciate that the love-triangle is anti-Twilight in the sense that there is a real love between the characters, but they don't spend the trilogy pining over one-another. The characters are mature and act like there is more on the line than who's with who.
I watched the first movie before heading to the theaters, and the director was a huge upgrade, Hunger Games' shaky camera was a distraction; also the costume and set design showed a high level of originality and felt like the Panem from the novel.
I can't wait for Part 1 and 2 of Mockingjay to come out, I only wish they would've taken a page from Peter Jackson's book, and filmed the entire series at once.
9/10