Francis Lawrence

Reasonably satisfying cinematic junk food...enough crackerjack sequences and admirably trippy rhythms for a recommendation.

A competent sequel...The Hunger Games could be fairly accused of being what it satirizes, but it's not without a thought in its deadly little head.

We're meant to feel the weight of Katniss' situation, and we do, but the picture can also fairly be called leaden...

If the franchise continues to feel a bit dull—heavy on the drama and light on the excitement, with pageantry long in the rear-view—there’s a respectable purity in the films’ political cynicism and populist fervor.

A guy’s fantasy of an empowered woman’s story. She’s smart! She’s capable! She’s sexy! She’s nude! She’s degraded! Wait...