The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (12A)

Following up the massive hit that was The Hunger Games was always going to be a big ask - especially when the source material goes so spectacularly south in book two.

And the promo material doesn't help when it sells Catching Fire as, essentially, nothing more than another round of The Games.

Fortunately, HG2:CF (catchy, no?) is much more than that (and, for once, IMDB gets its description right).

For the seven of you who managed to miss the first film (or the book), a quick recap:

In a world where The Capitol controls everything and oppresses the districts, every year youngsters are picked for The Hunger Games - a jovial bit of fun where 24 kids fight to the death, and the survivor gets proper food for the rest of their lives.

Katniss Everdeen (the ever-superb Jennifer Lawrence) caused a few problems by making sure she and her fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson, who has definitely found his feet now) both survived. President Snow was not a happy bunny.

While Katniss was only thinking about getting out alive, the rest of the world saw her actions as rebellion, and now the downtrodden and mistreated have revolution in their hearts and a poster girl for their hope.

Again, President Snow (a wonderfully sinister Donald Sutherland) is not a happy bunny. The peasants are revolting and putting him off his biccys.

Hence, the new Hunger Games. This time, previous winners must go head to head, ideally killing off Everdeen in the process and saving President Snow more grief.

Yet it's actually the games at play behind The Games that are what the film is really about.

The Games themselves come late on, so if you're planning on another two-hours of children stabbing each other, you're in for some disappointment.

Instead, what we have is wonderful political and personal tension, as Katniss realises her actions had consequences far greater than she imagined. She's also, not surprisingly, suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress.

Lawrence captures perfectly the little girl struggling to deal with what she went through, what she must go through again, and how the world now seems to perceive her.

And there are lighter moments too, thanks again to Stanley Tucci's gameshow host maniac (we need more Toby Jones, people) - but even he has a delightfully sinister edge.

Unfortunately, the film does suffer from a few problems.

For a start, it's too long (just a smidge under two hours 20 mins). And it's in 3D (if you choose this option, the last third of the film will make your head explode as you strain to work out who's punching who in the murky gloom). Granted, none of that is the book's fault.

And, much like Pirates Of The Caribbean 2 and The Deathly Hallows part 1 (or Harry On Camping), Catching Fire exists purely to set up the final book/films. The book suffers from this a lot. Fortunately, the film solves this problem.

The love triangle is a bit too Twilight for comfort, too. Yes, it may be in the book, but it adds nothing to the film.

But, by making the impending revolution the focal point, and President Snow the villain of the whole thing (something the book tried to do and failed), the twists and turns, the human torment and angst are all brought to the fore convincingly.

As with the first film, the weakest performance goes to Lenny Kravitz (as dress designer Cinna), but even he manages to up his game this time round.

New to The Games is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who as new Games designer Heavensbee is given the job of helping President Snow bring Katniss down to earth with several bumps. And he'd better do a good job, given what happened to the last guy...

Flaws aside, though (the score needs another run at it, too), Catching Fire is at the very least as good as The Hunger Games. It's possibly even better.

It could have been a risk taking the focus off the fighting, and there was always a chance it would fall flat as it just sets up the next film(s), but all of these issues are dodged by a well-written script, great action sequences and a convincing plot.

Where the first film was looking at a barbaric, dystopian society, Catching Fire has far more to say about Government oppression and power - capturing perfectly the lengths those in power will go to stay there.

It's a message that gets more relevant with every passing year.

So, that's two books down, one book to go. In two films. Which is being done for artistic reasons, obviously - same as it was with Potter and Twilight - and not to milk every last drop of cash out of a limited-run franchise...