Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, Natalie Dormer, and Donald Sutherland
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Screenplay by: Peter Craig and Danny Strong
Based on the novel by Suzanne Collins
Goodness, that's a lot of people in this cast!
The Hunger Games themselves may not be an annual tradition, but it now seems as if film releases based on the series has become one.
At the end of the last movie, Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) destroyed the arena where the 75th Hunger Games, otherwise known as the Quarter Quell, took place. The resistance in District 13, thought to be destroyed in the original rebellion, rescued her and a few of the other tributes from the games, but not all of them. Now in District 13, it is up to former game master, Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and president Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) to convince Katniss to be the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion against the Capitol. Once she agrees, they decide to make a series of short propoganda messages for all of Panem to see, informing the whole country, that she is alive and ready to fight and unite the districts in open rebellion against the Capitol.
Meanwhile in the Capitol, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), the famed "lover" of Katniss is being held captive by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and is forced to say things on television interviews with Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) he does not mean. He is condemning the rebellion and calling for the districts to lay down their weapons, basically being a puppet for president Snow. You'll just have to see the movie to find out what happens next.
Now, I'm not going to be the first one to tell you that it's rather annoying that the third book in the series had to be split into two movies. And I'm probably not the only one thinking that it's been split into two parts so that the franchise can make as much money as possible. But enough about that; let's talk about how the movie actually is, shall we?
When reading the series, I found Mockingjay to be my least favorite book in the series, with a completely unsatisfying ending (which will happen in part 2). The storyline at this point becomes quite predictable in the series, with audiences becoming aware of what is likely to happen next. There are a few surprises to come in the next film, but still it is more predictable than not. The problem with the third book being split into two movies is that part 1 is just filling in the story. Much of the duration of the film is in the form of a drama film, not an action film because there is very little action compared to the first film or Catching Fire.
The film uses its dark tone and setting to show us what district 13 is really like. It is better described in the book, but it is helpful to visualize it and the film does a good job of visualizing this utopia. Much of the setting is in an underground bunker or other dark places, and the lighting reflects these settings quite well, and as a result, the setting complements the tone in a good way.
The Hunger Games up to this point has been a show of Jennifer Lawrence's dominance on screen. Katniss is a dominant character throughout the books, not only because of her narrating the story or it being told from her perspective, but also because of her nature as a character. Lawrence has brought the kind of life to Katniss's character that I imagined while reading the book, and delivers her best performance as Katniss yet. Lawrence makes it look as though we can forget that she is the actress behind Katniss Everdeen by bringing such a strong performance to the film. This is clearly her show.
We do not see nearly as much of other characters such as Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) or Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) as I would like to have seen in this film. Both Harrelson and Banks bring their characters to life in excellent fashions that is not seen very well in Mockingjay Part 1 because of their lack of screen time.
For those who have not read the books or are otherwise unfamiliar with the story, this is not a good point to start watching the series. These movies do not stand alone, and reading the books is helpful to understanding these films. For those who have not read the series, director Francis Lawrence takes the story to a darker, scarier place than you probably imagined the story going. It only gets darker from here.
The second part of this film should be interesting because of either how long or how short it could be. This book is not long enough for it to be made into two separate movies, but somehow, the filmmakers have found a way to do it. This leads me to think that part 2 will be the shortest film of the series. It will be interesting to see what they do with part 2 when it is released. Part 1 is not the most satisfying of the films in the series, and in fact it is probably the worst of the series so far. It feels like much of the film is wasted time emphasizing parts of the story that do not necessarily need to be emphasized. I fear the next film will do that too.
I give Mockingjay Part 1 a C+.
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