The theaters were packed. People stood in line for hours. Many had bought their tickets in advance to see what is sure to be the blockbuster of the year. I didn’t walk into the theater, the collective shoving of the other theater patrons pushed me towards the entrance.

“Catching Fire” made a record breaking $161.1 million in its opening weekend and it was the biggest November opening for a movie ever. The turnout was the fourth biggest opening of all time after “The Avengers”, “Iron Man 3”, and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II”.

Between the first movie and this one, Katniss has had to adjust to the change being a victor brings. The Capitol views her win as an act of defiance and they are quick to let their disapproval be felt. In a tense moment, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) makes a trip to District 12 to insinuate that if Katniss doesn’t cooperate with him, her loved ones will be in danger.

“Catching Fire” shows us a notably more glamorous looking Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) since they’ve been changed by their time in the arena in the last movie. They are visibly more mature and irrevocably changed since the first installment.

Gatniss (Everthorne? Kale? Hawtniss?) shippers will be pleased to see that Gale (Liam Hemsworth) has increased screen time in this movie. Although some scenes in the book were cut in favor of having Gale on-screen longer,  but who can object to seeing Liam Hemsworth’s face so much?

If you’re team Peeta, however, you’ll probably be disappointed that in favor of including more President Snow and Plutarch Heavensbee  (Philip Seymour Hoffman) scenes, they had to cut the development of the Everlark (Katpee? Peeniss?) relationship. This was one of my only objections to the movie because seeing the development of the relationship between Katniss and Peeta is crucial in order to understand her intense reaction to being separated from him at the end of the film.

The aforementioned Snow and Heavensbee scenes were a bonus to the movie because we were able to see more that goes into the games as opposed to just getting Katniss’ point of view of events like you do when reading.

This movie welcomed a new director, Francis Lawrence; the caliber of the movie was definitely elevated. Lawrence showed his eye for effective photography by using the IMAX experience as a way to show the transformation from life in the districts to the arena. As Katniss rose up into the arena, she was looking at a whole new world with a whole new view as was the audience by switching from a normal theater screen to a clearer and bigger IMAX screen.

Overall it was a great movie and an improvement from the first. Having already read the books, I knew what to expect from the movie but that didn’t stop it from being a fast paced movie from start to finish. The 2 hours and 26 minute running time sounds long, but as I was watching it did not feel that way at all.

How long until “Mockingjay” comes out?