The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Having won her society's grandest contest, Jennifer Lawrence finds herself weary from constant celebrity scrutiny and false platitudes meant to waylay fears about the land's brutal living conditions. But enough about the Oscars (wocka wocka), Lawrence returns as Katniss Everdeen in eventual sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Suffering from PTSD, Katniss isn't too thrilled to become an inadvertent symbol for the disenfranchised, prompting President Christopher Plummer to set up Hunger Games: All Stars and end this franchise early. All meta and shit, everything about Catching Fire feels bigger and more expensive than its progenitor. That includes the length, which director Francis Lawrence (no relation) spins with ball gown elegance to get around a lopsided story. J-Law is still giving this her all, with soul-shattered anguish that becomes the highlight of some monstrous moments. Though just a transitional movement in a quartet, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is an enthralling sci-fi story about the cost of survival. —Jacob Boon