This is the rare sequel that I think is almost exactly as good as the first one. Even though it’s slightly different (it’s less about the games themselves and more about the revolution against the oppressors who institute them), there’s no real dip in quality. And for a monstrously successful sequel to a film that was already better than most blockbusters, I’ll take it.
What Works: The games don’t really even get started until the halfway point of this film, but I was surprised at how interested I became in the politics of this movie. Sure, we’ve all seen futuristic tales of the oppressed vs. the oppressors before, so maybe it’s even more impressive that this franchise makes these common ideas work so well. Many have called these films “the new Twilight,” or even “the new Harry Potter,” but Twilight never wanted to be about anything bigger than a single romantic fantasy, and Harry Potter (excellent as it was) was pure escapism. [I know its magic eventually took on darker undertones, but its loose allegory for Nazi Germany in the last book wasn’t really the core of the series.] Hunger Games is a franchise with a lot on its mind, and I’m grateful for any grasp at larger ideas.
I also liked the inclusion of Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the new chief game maker. His wily ambiguity adds a layer of mystery to his too-few scenes. Woody Harrelson scores as the comedic relief who may not be as goofy as we think. And, as always, Jennifer Lawrence manages to somehow be a movie star and a great actress at the same time.
What Doesn’t Work: The games aren’t as satisfying this time out, and I was hoping for something just a little bit more compelling to take place inside that stadium. It doesn’t feel like we bond with the participants or really get to know them as much either. But a bigger problem might be the forced love triangle that Lawrence’s Katniss has going on between Gale (a bland Liam Hemsworth) and Peeta (an inadequate Josh Hutcherson). Neither of these actors is particularly skilled and they’re playing characters that are about as interesting as dirt. Some of the more dramatic scenes featuring Hutcherson become unintentionally hilarious due to his stilted, weirdly passionless performance.
What I Would Have Done Differently: They’re pretty much stuck with Hutcherson and Hemsworth now, so there’s not much they can do about that, but I’d love to see a beefed up role for Hoffman in the next film. It also looks like the next movie will give us more backstory into the exact nature of what happened all those years ago before the games got started, and I look forward to that.