Kurt Loder Reviews The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is in some ways a rerun of the first film—nearly two and a half hours of teenage action-romance. But it's a better movie. The producers have brought in a new creative team to punch things up. Their wisest hire was director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend), who whips the story along in a tightly focused style: the picture never sags or wanders. It's still a movie aimed at fans of Suzanne Collins' best-selling YA novels—and of Jennifer Lawrence, naturally—but even viewers dragged into it kicking and screaming are unlikely to be bored out of their minds. Well, not entirely, says Kurt Loder.