I remember reading Catching Fire and initially feeling a little cheated that they were going back into a Hunger Games. It felt unoriginal and trite, like the world had no more depth to it than what we'd already seen. But then, the book began exploring the Victors. And here was a group of truly fascinating characters. Gone was any childish notion of good and evil, honour and glory. These were adults who had seen the system for what it was. They understood their cage. And they weren't going to take it any more. So by the time of the big twist, I was totally sold.
The film hits a lot of the same narrative beats, but it never pauses long enough to really let the Victors have their moment to shine. So much like the first movie, this would be better as a TV series, with more time to explore the more interesting, slower paced elements of Panam.
However, the film still manages to keep you entertained. The clock face arena remains a clever and fun escalation. And the twist still lands. Overall, then, it's a solid middle child. It sets up the finale(s) well whilst building on the key ideas of the first. Could it have had more narrative depth? Yeah, but it's still good fun 😉