Film pick: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Duration: 146 minutes

Rating: 3/5

Last year's The Hunger Games made the cinema safe again for grown-ups in the area of young-adult fantasy fiction, a genre rife with sparkly vampires and computer-drawn sea monsters.

The second book in Suzanne Collins' series of young- adult novels set in a totalitarian future is just as entertaining, if not more so.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) are sent on a victory tour of Panem following their win in the Hunger Games.

Under threat of retaliation from President Snow (Donald Sutherland), she and Peeta must keep up the appearance of being in love with each other, to keep the restive populace entertained and distracted, amid growing signs of civil unrest. They are forced by Snow's government to take part in one more deadly gladiatorial contest, the Quarter Quell, featuring an all-star roster of past winners.

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