Jennifer Lawrence has such an expressive face that you have to be sure it is her from one frame of film to the next. I am not a fan of films like "The Hunger Games" but her face and acting grabbed  me in that first film just as it does in this sequel,
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" which is the second of 4 films that
will make up the three volumes of the original story. Like most sequels this
is more opf a holding pattern to set up the next two films. The film,
Jennifer Lawrence and some of the supporting players will get you
through this way too long film that could have easily been cut to run 2 hours instead of the 2 hours and 26 minutes.

The
screenplay written by Simon Beaufoy and Michael deBruyn, based on the
novel by Francis Lawrence (no relation to the actress) provide the
screen with action, color, blood and just a few spots that drag. The
production designer provides good background and costume designer
certainly deserves accolades, including those that over the line.

This
new film brings back 24 winners of previous games with only 1 who can
win. The government seems to interfere more with the games than it did
in the first film but this is because President Snow (Donald
Southerland) of Panem sees Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) as a
threat to his rule and wants to eliminate her thinking that will stop
the brewing revolution. Katniss not only has to defend herself with the
possibility of having to kill Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who is in love
with her but she is also put in a position of having to choose between
Peeta and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) who confuses her with a kiss before she
goes off to fight.

Stanley
Tucci chews up the scenery more than he did in the first film while the
makeup, wigs and costumes upstages the wearer of all 3 Elizabeth Banks.
Woody Harrelson shines as the mentor of both Katniss and Peeta putting
himself in position to betray one of them. Lenny Kravitz stands out,
once again, as the designer of Katniss's dresses.

Newcomers
to the franchise are Philip Seymour Hoffman who plays more calm than he
has in other films while Amanda Plummer, Jeffrey Wright, Lynn Cohen and
Jena Malone all bring strong characters to life as competitors in the
games. Another game player is Sam Claflin who takes over the screen
whenever he is on it, as a egotistical, handsome and, with a 6 pack
stomach, gets quite a few sighs.
As
an in between sequel to set up the last two films in the franchise "The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire" drags a bit here and there but then you
can always look at Jennifer Lawrence's face as it almost
imperceptibility changes.