Review Roundup: HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour" of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) - a competition that could change Panem forever. (c) Lionsgate

Let's see what the critics have to say...

David Denby, The New Yorker: "For Katniss, the pleasure of victory never arrives. At the very beginning of the movie, we see her in silhouette, crouching at the edge of a pond, a huntress poised to uncoil. She hates being a celebrity, and she certainly has no desire to lead a revolution. Jennifer Lawrence's gray-green eyes and her formidable concentration dominate the camera. She resembles a story-book Indian princess, and she projects the kind of strength that Katharine Hepburn had when she was young."

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: "Director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) and cinematographer Jo Willems maintain the house style established in the first film, respectively, by Gary Ross and Tom Stern, frequently disrupting the effects-heavy sequences with handheld close-ups. It's refreshing to see a Hollywood franchise so invested in creating a sense of intimacy, even if that intimacy feels hackneyed."

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "Of the newcomers to the games, save a star spot for Sam Claflin as Finnick, a charmer with a truly hidden agenda, and Jena Malone as Johanna, kicking ass in high style even when soaked in blood rain. As for the games themselves (shot in Hawaii), they're well worth a nearly 90-minute wait, especially the rotating island, attack birds, rabid baboons and a rolling fog of poison gas. Kudos to director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend), replacing Gary Ross, who took heat for his dizzying hand-held camera moves in the first film."

Richard Corliss, TIME: "The climactic third Quarter Quell, a televised Most Dangerous Game pitting victors of the previous killer Olympics against one another, has its kicks and surprises. But the real fun is glomming the glam in the frocks sported by Katniss, her competitors and her dizzy escort Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), whose gaiety is strained, nearly hysterical, and whose outré garb is so tight it seems ready to crush her, like a Lycra python. You'll come for Survivors All-Stars and stay for Project Runway All Stars."

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Sucking up way too much screen time is Katniss' inability to choose between two suitors, Peeta and her best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth). Here, as in Twilight, this romantic waffling may be precisely what attracted many fans, but it trivializes our heroine. As Katniss strings the guys along (a kiss here, a snuggle there, a teary plea to understand her confused heart), she seems less like a strong-minded woman than a coquette wallowing in male attention. All this passive manipulation may have suited Bella Swan, but not a steely survivor like Katniss."

William Goss, Film.com: "Despite new writers Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt adapting Collins' second novel, Catching Fire is still frustratingly beholden to a structure identical to the first film: an hour of blue-collar handwringing, a half-hour of mandatory training and twirling, followed by an hour of the Games themselves. With any luck, the last novel - to be released as two separate movies, naturally - will see a change of pace with its escalated stakes. If the cliffhanger ending of this one is any indication, for the next two "Games," all bets are off."

Stephanie Zacharek, The Villiage Voice: "Somehow, Lawrence - even though her character is a proactive Diana the Huntress - makes thinking look more dynamic than reacting. Her eyes say lots of things: "Get over yourself;" "I'm not buying this;" and "OK, show me." But sometimes they also say, "I don't know what I want." Which guy, which path, which life? Lawrence is a movie star who's still believable as a girl. She's both on fire and in the process of becoming, and it's magnificent to watch."

Peter Debruge, Variety: "With its pseudo-war-photography shooting style, the first film played jittery tag-along witness to Katniss' ordeal. By taming the camera and focusing on the emotional truth of each highly charged moment, the director and d.p. Jo Willems (Limitless) invite us into Katniss' head, which is where the first-person books unfolded. Through her eyes, Peeta's sacrifices seem even more noble (crucial for the big twist to work in the upcoming Mockingjay), the threats that much more immediate."

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