Second screen outing for the all-conquering The Hunger Games phenomenon is still hungry and still on fire

The slightly darker second instalment in The Hunger Game series marks a gradual but notable improvement upon its predecessor

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket and Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in a scene from The

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (M)

Rating: 4 stars

Director: Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend)

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Donald Sutherland

It's Games on again. Catching Fire, the second screen outing for the all-conquering The Hunger Games phenomenon, marks a gradual, but notable improvement upon its predecessor.

The tone is darker, the storytelling is more complex, and the crucial elements of the much-loved novels by Suzanne Collins remain resolutely intact. Not since the Harry Potter series has a movie franchise both strived for and achieved such a consistently high standard.

Once again, Jennifer Lawrence leads from the front with an emphatically grounded performance as warrior heroine Katniss Everdeen.

Her ability to subtly switch from determined to distraught and back again is the province of very few actors.

The filmmakers should count their lucky stars they made such an apt choice for such a demanding role.

As the story picks up, Katniss has returned in triumph to District 12 after taking out the 74th Hunger Games.

The cynical President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is still hard at work oppressing the masses. In an effort to distract them further from his nefarious plans, Snow leans on Katniss to play up a supposed love she has developed for a fellow Games survivor, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson).

Not surprisingly, this doesn't go down well with her real beau, Gale (Liam Hemsworth).

However, as a certain sense of stoic pragmatism has kept Katniss alive so far, she reluctantly goes along with
the ruse.

The first half of the film zeros in on Katniss's personal frustrations with becoming a poster girl for the brutal regime she loathes.

Though this section is short on gripping action, a deeper understanding of her character is achieved that will be capitalised upon in Mockingjay, the two-part finale to the
series, which launches this time next year.

The second half of Catching Fire returns to more familiar territory with the staging of the 75th Games.

The twist here is that the tournament is open only to previous winners.

Katniss must step into a volatile new games arena - an enclosed biosphere containing hazards such as poison gas, electrical force fields and, err, killer monkeys - and get the better of an all-star field of contestants.

Speaking of all-star fields, the supporting cast of Catching Fire make winning contributions across the board.

Woody Harrelson (as the wily mentor Haymitch), Elizabeth Banks (as Effie Trinket) and Stanley Tucci (as Caesar Flickerman) repeat their great work from episode one.

A lively bunch of new faces led by Philip Seymour Hoffman (as the venerable game designer Plutarch) and Jena Malone (as Katniss's rival Johanna Mason) save the experience from ever getting too familiar.

While the running time is demanding at almost two and a half hours, there's barely a moment wasted in Catching Fire. The pacing is sharp, as is the writing and direction.

More importantly, there are no evident symptoms of "middle film syndrome" that often blight movies saddled with the task of serving as a springboard to a big finish yet
to come.

Take the tip from Haymitch when he tells his proteges, "Last year was just child's play."

Catching Fire burns up the screen in its own right, and in fine style.