| 91 | The PlaylistCatching Fire is a monumental achievement, a massively entertaining crowd-pleaser that is thought-provoking and personally inspiring in all of the ways that it aspires to be. |
| 90 | Wall Street Journal Joe MorgensternCatching Fire is exceptional entertainment, a spectacle with a good mind and a pounding heart. |
| 88 | ReelViews James BerardinelliThe screen translation of Catching Fire, the second volume of the series, offers its audience many of the elements that made The Hunger Games compelling, but adds to that by deepening the themes and emotional currents and traveling to darker destinations. |
| 88 | Chicago Sun-Times Richard RoeperCatching Fire makes only the occasional misstep. |
| 88 | Boston Globe Ty BurrVery few people will take in this spectacle of a society amusing itself to death, of “reality games” and the vapid media hysteria that surrounds them, and not draw a parallel to our own televised bread and circuses. At its best, “Catching Fire” is a blockbuster that bites the culture that made it. |
| 88 | Rolling Stone Peter TraversPop-culture escapism can be thrilling when dished out by experts. Katniss is a character worth a handful of sequels. And Lawrence lights up the screen. You'll follow her anywhere. |
| 80 | Variety Peter Debruge[Francis] Lawrence and his team have calibrated the entire experience for maximum engagement. And while its pleasures can't touch the thrill of seeing the Death Star destroyed - not yet, at least - the film runs circles around George Lucas' ability to weave complex political ideas into the very fabric of B-movie excitement. |
| 80 | Total Film Paul BradshawCatching Fire delivers on all the promise of Part 1 with a gutsier, tougher, better round of Games. |
| 80 | Empire Ian NathanDefying rote heroics and sidestepping those solemn Frodoisms lurking in the role, Lawrence seeks out the complex, human and earthy in Katniss, still the beating heart and total triumph of these movies. |
| 80 | Time Out London Cath ClarkeCatching Fire looks and feels epic. Hands down it's one of the most entertaining films of the year. |
| 80 | The Telegraph Robbie CollinIt's a critic's instinct to auto-praise any blockbuster that tries to do something different, but Catching Fire is so committed to carrying on the fine work started by its predecessor that the applause flows utterly naturally. |
| 80 | New York Magazine (Vulture) David EdelsteinRelatively speaking, Catching Fire is terrific. Even nonrelatively, it's pretty damn good.
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| 80 | New York Daily News Joe NeumaierThe good news is it comes very close, and does it without sacrificing its soul. Despite its sense of been-here-slayed-that, director Francis Lawrence expertly delivers thrills, ideas and spectacle. |
| 79 | Film.com William GossSteady-handed action is enough to elevate this film above its predecessor. |
| 79 | NPR Ian BuckwalterEverything that felt clumsy in The Hunger Games has been improved upon here. That's most apparent in the clarity of the action, but it also extends to how efficiently the film establishes so many new ensemble members. |
| 75 | Slant MagazineFrancis Lawrence imbues the source material with visceral pleasure in well-wrought scenes vacillating between elaborate spectacle, breathtaking terror, and--occasionally--surprising beauty. |
| 75 | Philadelphia InquirerCatching Fire is bigger, better and broodier than the first film. |
| 75 | New York Post Sara StewartYes, it's the middle chapter and feels like it, but it's never dull. |
| 75 | Chicago Tribune Michael PhillipsCatching Fire has the bonus of a genuinely charismatic performer at its center. Jennifer Lawrence, now an Oscar winner thanks to "Silver Linings Playbook," emotes like crazy throughout "Catching Fire," but you never catch her acting. |
| 75 | Miami Herald Rene RodriguezCatching Fire is a work of thoughtful, emotionally engaging sci-fi - everything that its predecessor The Hunger Games was not. |
| 75 | Philadelphia Inquirer Steven ReaCatching Fire is bigger, better and broodier than the first film. |
| 75 | San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalleBest in its first hour, when it concentrates on the politics and the specific horrors of Panem. It becomes more conventional in the second half and loses steam, but it's always heading somewhere. |
| 70 | The Hollywood Reporter Todd McCarthyThis is a safe, serviceable, carefully crafted action drama in which the subversive seeds planted in the first story take welcome root. |
| 63 | USA Today Claudia PuigCrowd-pleasing and compelling, most of all because of its fiery, charismatic heroine. |
| 60 | The Guardian Paul MacInnesWhat lets the movie down is its heart, or lack thereof. The reprise of the Games introduces new adversaries (and some allies) but has exactly the same dynamic as in the first movie. |
| 50 | New York Observer Rex ReedEnough is enough. One good thing: The jungle scenes were shot in Hawaii, so at least they all got a paid vacation. |
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