I think The Hunger Games movies are only ever going to be as good as their source material was. I find their source material to be fairly medicore in its execution, though the core ideas and themes are good. The films thus far don't stray far enough from the source material to really improve on anything, so you get something of a mixed bag when it comes to these adaptions.
That said, this is a very well made, entertaining film. The acting is solid all around, though I think Prim is still a horrible actress, Phillip Seymour Hoffman was picking up a paycheck in his final scene, and Hutcherson has all the down home charisma of a wet paper bag. He's frustratingly and somewhat awkwardly SO right for Peeta, and yet so very wrong at the same time.
The action isn't really anything special this time out, the violence having been pulled back a lot, and the brutality of events (other than that gas which turns people inside out) simply isn't felt, which is disappointing, especially since the film fails to make its characters desensitized to what they must do, especially Katniss. I found the 3D hologram thing kind of silly and perfunctory. Could have done without the killer baboons as well. Aside from that, it's a well paced film, does a good job developing the themes of the franchise, often in fairly subtle ways, and furthering the stories of the characters involved. I liked the glimpses of riots and unrest, and the behind the scenes plotting of Snow and Plutarch. That, and the lengths that one of them is willing to go to bring about change, was an element I'm glad they added to the film VS the book. I enjoyed Effie's "evolution", and thought that Banks was VERY good this time out. Sutherland was ice cold as Snow, just pitch perfect; there's a moment where he does something almost imperceptible with his eyes that is just fantastic. And of course, Jennifer Lawrence is good once again as Katniss, though she doesn't bring anything new or particularly nuanced to the role that wasn't in the previous film. I was a little less impressed with her in CATCHING FIRE, and felt like Katniss was a lot more melodramatic and less natural in her performance, but she's still very good in the role. Claflin is a solid Finn, and I really dug Joanna in her few key moments. While I get what they were going for, after being well paced throughout, I did think the film ended a little too abruptly and without a satisfying denoument.
I was struck by the way the second film more or less relegated the tributes to the back burner in favor of "Arena VS Heroes". It was an interesting approach, and while I remember it being there to some extent in the book, it was a lot more unbalanced here. The "love triangle" is really more an afterthought, and much like Peeta, is more or less as useless here as it was in the book.
