Why Do The Critics Think 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Is The Best Film Ever?

If the first Hunger Games movie surprised everyone with its seamless transition from page to screen, The Hunger Games Catching Fire has all but astounded. With 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, Francis Lawrence has taken the franchise even further than anyone thought it could go, and the box office should represent that after the film’s release on November 22nd.

But what’s the secret behind the Catching Fire’s success? Often, films build up a strong set of reviews only to find the rest of the critics aren’t reading from the same hymnbook; that’s when the Rotten Tomatoes score starts to slide. But the latest Hunger Games movie did the opposite. A respectable score in the high 80s looked to be a solid precursor to what everyone expects to be a Thor-toppling box office this weekend.

Jennifer Lawrence is one of the key factors. Not only is she a brilliant actor, as evidenced by her Oscar win last year for Silver Linings Playbook, but she’s marketable too. With her candid approach to the debate surrounding sexualisation, she has pushed the character of Katniss further than Suzanne Collins ever expected she would go.

Watch the trailer for Hunger Games: Catching Fire

“Jennifer Lawrence, of course, is the real draw. Female role models come and go, and Lawrence's Katniss is one of the better ones,” said Village Voice’s Stephanie Zacharek. “Like Katniss ducking a poison-tip arrow, the keepers of Suzanne Collins's trilogy of fantasy novels have dodged the perils of the sloppy second franchise film,” said Cath Clarke of Time Out.

Next Page: Francis Lawrence gets a pat on the back

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A strong role model lurking behind Lawrence isn’t the only draw, and director Lawrence (no relation) deserved credit too, but we’ll leave it to the myriad critics – and believe us, myriad is the right adjective – to tell you what a good job he did.

“Francis Lawrence imbues the source material with visceral pleasure in well-wrought scenes vacillating between elaborate spectacle, breathtaking terror, and--occasionally--surprising beauty,” Richard Larson of Slant Magazine enthuses. “(Francis Lawrence) adds some important new pieces to that group and expands the world in a way that doesn't throw out Ross's film, but that uses it as a way to get to something even better,” says HitFix’s Drew McWeeny.

Combining the vast fan base - who have no doubt used the first film to entice others into fandom - with the incredible reviews of Catching Fire, we expect the second entry to the franchise to exceed Box Office Mojo’s 40% chance of it breaking the $1billion barrier to be more like 70%.