THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE

Good film! Surprised me. I saw the first Hunger Games on Netflix, which was OK, and this popped up a couple of nights ago so I thought I'd give it a go. Even though there was more 'Hunger games' to do the film benefited by not focussing too much on that, and instead building the relationships between a few key characters. Peeta (or however the heck you spell it) was much more interesting this time around, and they introduced a new guy (Finnegan... I think?) who they set up to be a cocky idiot bad guy but who actually has a lot going for him.

You could tell the main purpose of this film was to bridge a gap - show the aftermath of the first and set up for the bigger events to come, but it did it pretty well and was a definite improvement on the original. Jennifer Lawrence is one of the finest leading women out there at the moment and her performance really elevates a character that isn't written in a particularly impressive way. The entire film hangs on her pulling that role off and she does it very well indeed.