Made me hungry for more

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2013)

Just got out of the theater an hour or so ago from seeing this movie. Last night (thanks to Netflix), I started what seems like a tradition of watching a movie trilogy's first movie and watching the new sequel the night after. With it and the books (somewhat) fresh in my mind, I was ready for how this one would play out, and I was thoroughly enjoyed. From my memory, I think that the movie actually did about everything that happened in book from chapter to chapter. Usually with these movie/book type of franchises, you sometime see big, crucial parts from the book not in the film, but that wasn't the case for this film.
The plot was pretty easy to follow, and felt pretty much the same from the first movie, but this time, the fake aspect to it that the two main characters had to put on in the first wasn't as prevalent as in this one. To be honest, that part almost killed the first one for me even though it was essential to the plot. Thankfully it didn't get to the confusing levels of Twilight. The violence, being part that actually got me into this whole franchise, really kept me in more in this one than in the first. It felt a bit more gritter with more violent and smart ways of killings than that which was seen in the first. It did feel that it sped through the first half again, but it definitely slowed down for the whole reason people were watching it for. I went with a friend who actually wasn't as pleased from this as I was since they felt it didn't focus on the new opponents as much as they kind of did in the first movie. For me, it felt as if they kind of went over them in about the same, quick manner.
The acting was great, but of course there were some funny bits thanks to some characters' ways of acting. It was great to see how Phillip Seymour Hoffman played as the new game maker. For some reason, the funny delivery of his line, "I'm going to hurt her," from Mission Impossible III kept playing in my mind during the whole movie, which made some serious parts a little funny. Jennifer Lawrence shined again as Katniss, acting at about the same level, if not higher, as she did in the first. It really felt like this for the rest of the characters, with a slight bump. The new characters were great, and of course my favorite was Johanna played by Jena Malone. She was the kind of character that shocked you at first and really made you wonder where her alliance was after.
If I were to rate this movie in terms of decimals, I'd give it an 8.3/10. In my view, it was better than the first, and if you read the books, it's a must see. Can't wait for Mockingjay, which I hear will be a two-parter.