FEAR OF JENNIFER LAWRENCE'S BODY? The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) **1/2

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire picks up with Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen now in love (at least, in the media's eyes) with Peeta Mellark. The main attraction is going to be yet (another) round of brutal to-the-death-traps Katniss is going to have survive. The story and acting are good and above average but something in this series keeps failing to connect. Here the obvious problem - if not a bad one - is the camera's weird relationship to Lawrence's body. The camera is often deliberately distant from her. Which is good since oversexed superheroines have been done to death and the character development portrayed is (mostly) credible. But, in the end, it's hard to take a story seriously where Katniss, at one moment, is courageous and clever and the next can't help but fall for the most seemingly obvious ploys from the male characters. But a (female) associate assures Katniss is much smarter in the novels.