The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Last year, The Hunger Games got the world watching and invested in one of fiction's most ghastly competitions. Now, the next book of Suzanne Collins's series, Catching Fire, has its turn on the big screen.

Ever since she and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) bucked the system to allow themselves co-championship of The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has become a slave to PR. Folks in Panem have been rising up against their evil masters. So the evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland) wants her and Peeta to act like a couple for the masses. Otherwise, everyone they know will be slaughtered.

Still not satisfied, Snow ropes the two back into the next Hunger Games. This time, they'll face past winners of the death-sport competition. Fortunately, they find themselves with more people who want to join their side.

This sequel replaces director/co-writer Gary Ross with director Francis Lawrence, who brings with him Oscar-winning writers Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt. It feels slower than the first one, even though both are roughly 2 1/2 hours, but the story development is well-paced. One thing: most of the "established killers" Katniss and Peeta face are dispatched off-screen. None of them get to antagonize them.

Katniss and Peeta make for a great pair of lead characters; thanks to their actors, their chemistry is believable and enjoyable. Sutherland, meanwhile, makes for a really, really contemptible villain from his first minutes on-screen. The best of the new cast are Philip Seymour Hoffman as head of the Games and Jeffrey Wright and Jena Malone as two of the past winners.

There's plenty of great visual effects, costume and set design and music to go with this blockbuster. They should help keep fans and casual moviegoers glued to the screen for this installment. Mockingjay is the next book and it's going to be split into two movies throughout the next two years. I can already imagine the plot point where it splits; as for this one, it ends with a shocking plot twist.