I thought this was a bit of a letdown. It's retreading the plot and structure of the first one with some minor twists added and a different ending, so its not seen as the blatant copy it actually is. By having the same structure as the first movie did, most scenes before the 1 hour mark feel like filler and most after feels like a copy of the first movie, slightly amped up. To me it felt too much like the first one, a feeling I last had watching Transformers 2 - and that is not a good thing, as I avoided the sequels. Though, to be fair, it was mostly because Transformers 2 was very annoying.
The movie felt long. Really long. I think it could have been 40 minutes shorter and it wouldn't lose any important things while actually giving it a better pacing, as the movie feels just stretched out just so it runs over two and a half hours. And because of that stretching, the ending feels like it came really quick and was over before I realized it. The ending also leaves you hanging, desperately wanting you to want to see both parts of the final movie, both being released in a November (2014 and 2015), taking the route of unnecessarily stretching out the lifespan of the movies like it's usual now.
I don't understand why they think they need to do this. The Harry Potter movies, a franchise with a similar target audience, had the two parter finale released in a span of 6 months. Even the Matrix sequels came out in the span of 6 months. Both were very successful and at least the former was beloved by most who saw them. Maybe it's because of Twilight, as its two part finale was also released in a November (2011 and 2012).

But for now, until both sequels come out on DVD/BR, I don't have any interest in seeing (or even reading) The Hunger Games in the foreseeable future.

9/10 Better than the first one, as expected.

Warning: Heavy spoilers for people who did not read the 3rd book!

It was better than the first movie on many points, especially the ones I expected it to be. But it still has some flaws, besides the obvious ones the first movie had as well.

First off, the obvious ones: Both movies fail to capture the scale of Katniss' inner stife concerning Peeta and Gale, and the influence of the home front (especially her sister and the role her mother had in the family.) I think this will severely lessen the impact of her sisters death in the final movie in 2015, just like it reduces the relationship Katniss has with her two 'boys' to a more common love triangle than it actually is.
In defence of the screen writers: it is hard to picture this strife on screen without getting long voice-over monologues, drag the movie out too much and make it boring. Since this choice was already made in the first movie, it was only logical they continued on this path for consistency.
- Secondly, the movies lose a lot of strength for people who did not read the books. This is because of the lack (or scarce amount) of background information. For non-readers this makes the basic outlines of the story a bit farfetched. (Why are there hunger games? What does the capitol wants to protect besides its own decadence? How come the districts didn't revolt earlier? These are a few questions that are easily asked, but not properly answered.)

Plot Development:
That being said, the 2nd movie manages to picture the cruelty of the capitol a lot better than the first one. This makes sense from a storyline perspective, since from this moment on Katniss gets more aware of the full scale of the oppresion in all the districts.
They stay true to the book, without getting to much attached to it. Maybe the first half (the victory tour) is a bit rushed, but that's understandable to avoid stretching out the movie too much.
Personally I think the movie needed 10-15 minutes extra to create that extra bit of (emotional) impact and explanation for a few things (like said earlier) or leave out a few scenes completely. Examples are the jabberjails in the arena or the replacement of the old peacekeeper. Also the conversation Katniss has with President Snow in her Victory Road home was too rushed, and lost its impact.
They managed to make some parts of the story even more clear, and the ending is way more satisfying than what Collins did originally. Less open-ended and more of a step-up to the next movie.

Acting:
Except for Donald Sutherland (President Snow ) I thought all the actors did a better job in the follow up movie than in the first one. It was obvious that they grew into their characters over time. Especially Elizabeth Banks (Effie) was exquisit and the faces Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) did were top notch. She might be a bit too sweet and confident for Katniss, but she pulls it off. Also new character Johanna Mason, pictured by Jena Malone, was a really good casting decision.
The actors managed to give strong emotions to their characters, while they impressively managed to avoid overacting. Something that could happen easily in this story. They also got a few whimsical lines and responses in there that will make you smile.

Visual:
CGI were great, as expected of a modern high budget movie. They did not overdo it, which is a compliment for movies with this allure nowadays, and looked realistic, sharp and terrifying. Great job especially on the subtle way how they made the poiseness mist look. The only CGI I did not enjoy was the Tsunami (so the wave ON water, not when it came out of the forest.) This felt a bit cheap.
You notice the movie is by a different director, but nothing changed dramatically. Again, he jumps from 1 situation to the other a bit fast in the first part, and convo's are a bit cramped in because of the relatively fast scenes with information. So this can feel a bit messy. To make up for this, the arena scenes are detailed and beautfull. There are some interesting peek-throughs (deep shots) that keep the direct environment visible, and even one from a first person perspective. Not a fan of some of the close-ups though, they felt a bit cut-of at times.
Oh and costumes, great costumes that is, but A LOT of costumes :P

Sound:
I didn't really get up in your face, but managed to get the theme through to you at the important parts. Since I haven't paid attention to it in particular, that's all I have to comment on it unfortunately.

Enjoyment/Overall:
Great movie to watch, just like the first one. Has a good balance between action, stories, character development and originality. Depending on what kind of movies you like, the first half could be experienced as rushed or maybe uneventful, but the second part makes up for it in both cases.
All the flaws mentioned earlier are for the most part minor flaws, and do not compromise the movie for the most viewers.

ps. There were 2 'beeps' for the f-word when I watched it in cinema. I am interested if more people had this, and if someone knows if that will be on the DVD/Blu-ray too. Usually those words ain't censored in my country.

8.5/10 - Things are really taking off now! :)
The first movie was basically an introduction and shows that status quo while this movie starts the story of the revolution (which makes it much more interesting - I especially like the breakout from the Hunger Games dome/"prison").

I like how this movie directly builds upon the last movie but focuses on the emotions, PTSD, and helplessness / power of the Capitol.
We get to see the Victor's Village, more of the Sci-Fi technology of the Capitol (which I really like), the Mockingjay is slowly introduced as the symbol of the resistance, the military forces of the Capitol are shown, and the bigger picture becomes more clear (the last movie focused on the small part that the Tributes got to see and didn't show much of what's going on behind the scenes).

The idea of the third quarter quell and selecting the tributes from the pool of victors is interesting. It really shows the hopelessness/emotions, makes it possible to show another Hunger Game, and yet makes it something completely new with a big twist at the end.
Just a bit unbelievable that they managed to protect Katniss that well without her knowing but I guess it would be doable with some luck.

What a massive cliffhanger at the end though! "This is the revolution and you're the Mockingjay" and "District 12 is gone".

To make this as short as possible, this movie is not as good as the first one. Now considering the first one was nothing shy of terrible it speaks worlds about how much money was wasted on making this movie look like a low-budget Sci-fi film you'd see late night on Syfy, you know, the ones with no big names and the graphics are lousy, but they make you laugh a bit because of it... I certainly hope the books of this series were not even close to as bad as the portrayal of them in these films. I understand the Twilight series was mentioned in some viewers comparisons, but clearly these movies have trouble measuring up to those atrocities. To get such a great rating I'm seeing on several sites I was hoping would be for a well put together film... unfortunately it is quite the opposite. The money loyal fans spent to ruin their Friday night is why this movie wasn't wisely cast out from all theaters worldwide. I mean casting an unattractive lead who should have used her parents money to buy some emotions instead of acting positions ruined everything about both films. The one spoiler I'll give is you have to look at her face searching for the right emotion to use in the closing seconds, ultimately depressing venture. The filmmakers should be ashamed, I know I am. If you are looking for a good book to movie setup... Fight Club.

Having survived the 74th Hunger Hames, "Katniss" (Jennifer Lawrence) and her on-screen beau "Peeta" (Josh Hutcherson) now expect to live a life of luxury in their victor's village - but nope, devious president "Snow" (Donald Sutherland) has other plans for them. Having dispensed with the services of poor old Wes Bentley, he brings in Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Plutarch") to create a sort of Champions League affair with previous - supposedly forever exempt - winners to come back for a "quell". It's a good excuse to bring in some old blood two help out the youngsters - Jeffrey Wright ("Beetee") probably most notable amongst them, and we pretty much repeat the perilous escapades of the first film. This time, though, the threads of an uprising and a more collaborative approach to resistance start to win through; we see our combatants start to use their heads more, to thwart the divisive aims of their president and the story starts to gain a bit more momentum. Sadly, though - pretty as they are; the acting is still really weak. Lawrence just doesn't engage with me and the new "Finnick" (Sam Claflin) character again offers eye candy a-plenty, but squashing a cutie into lycra doesn't make him any better an actor. To be fair, they don't have a great deal by way of decent dialogue to deliver as almost all of this is an exercise of advanced CGI. The ending does, at least, offer us promise that the third leg of this franchise will offer more scope to vary the theme a bit, but as far as this is concerned, it's nothing at all special.