The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

Having put an end to The Hunger Games forever, President Alma Coin uses Katniss as a beacon for hope. A reluctant Katniss has only one thing on her mind, to save Peeta.

I have to be honest, I have always struggled with this movie, it isn't bad, I just wish they could have got the story done in one go, I like the second part, I find this first half too fleshed out, it lacks any real content. It does get going, but later on, it's all build up for the second.

The visuals are great, there are plenty of action sequences and explosions, and of course sets and costumes look great. Lawrence is very good once again, but the script doesn't offer her the range that Catching Fire did.

Julianne Moore was excellent as President Coin I thought, very strong performance.

I did enjoy that scene where Peeta turned, having been absent for most of the movie, it was good to see him put to good use.

I liked that there was a message at the end for Philip Seymour Hoffman, RIP.

6/10.

The Hunger Games story continues with the third installation, Mockingjay. And it's about as padded and needlessly long as every other two-parter we've had since the studio executives came up with this money-grabbing monstrosity of an idea.

Not to say you shouldn't see this one if you've liked the previous Hunger Games films. This continues the story just fine. Jennifer Lawrence still shines as Katniss Everdeen. Her presence and talent hold us through even through scenes you instantly recognize as needless padding and waste of our money. The returning cast is also as talented as they've always been and most of the new characters are also casted without hitches. Julianne Moore is perhaps a bit too... Julianne Moore to play President Coin 100 percent convincingly, but she has certain presence as well, that cannot be denied.

What bugs me is the story. The book itself was the weakest of the trilogy, though not by much, and it seems that its faults bleed into the film. Especially because the iron tight pace of the previous installations is thrown straight out of the window and we spent most of our time building up atmosphere. And building. And building. And... You get the point. There's very little bang for your buck here and even when something substantial happens, it simply lacks that edge.

Plus, they had the perfect closing scene, and for some reason they decided to keep going for about five minutes. Trust me, you know where they should have ended it when you've seen the movie.

This is a good movie. It still looks great, the main actors are brilliant and it has enough depth to impress through its story alone. I just wish they had had the integrity to go with one movie. It very well might have been the best Hunger Games movie of the three. It would have had two movies before it to build up momentum and steam. Instead it lifts up the pedal from the gas and decides to stroll over the finish line. Poor form, extremely poor form.

After the bombing of District 13, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) finally accepts the request of President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and her adviser Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and becomes the symbol of the rebellion, the Mockingjay. However, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in the Capitol broadcasts a message of Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) live contradicting Katniss. She believes that his life is in danger and convinces President Coin to rescue Peeta and the others Victors. But she has a surprise with his reaction.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" is a disappointing movie too long for a short story with a lead character hysterical and too sentimental. In the other two movies, the plot was tense and full of action. Katniss is irritating with her reactions and despite the destruction of the Districts by Snow's army, her major concern is with Peeta. Prim's attitude leaving the bunker to save her cat is ridiculous and why Peeta's broadcasting is live is hard to understand. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Jogos Vorazes: A Esperança - Parte 1" ("Hunger Games: The Hope - Part 1")

When it was first announced that Mockingjay was going to be split into two movies, I gawked. It's one book. How can there possibly be enough to fill two movies? It didn't help that my sister also found it weird, having read the book. She couldn't see any obvious place for the split. Despite what feels like everyone else on the internet is saying, I actually support the split now. Mockingjay marks a massive tonal shift in the franchise, so it would have been a bit jarring introducing this tonal shift for the final movie, leaving you no time to settle into the new status quo left from Catching Fire. The biggest reason for my support though is how rushed everything would have been. When a book is adapted into a movie, there are certain time constraints to be taken into account. That inevitably means things are cut, which leaves many fans unhappy with the final product. With Mockingjay they decided to give it time to flesh out the characters; give everyone a bit of limelight, expand on various elements in the book, and just generally make sure it doesn't frenetically jump from scene to scene or cut out important plot points. Having now scene Mockingjay Part 1, I can't imagine it being compressed into half the running time without sacrificing the emotional resonance or rushing through everything. The emotional resonance is the big selling point of Mockingjay. For some it might be seen as boring, drawn-out melodrama, but for me it made Mockingjay a darker, more harrowing movie than the previous two, which says a lot about a franchise hinging on a fight-to-the-death between children in order to keep the tyrannical dictatorship in place. Katniss has lost her district, lost Peeta, and now lives in hiding with a group of rebels intent on overthrowing the Capitol. To not dwell on how that affects her and the people around her would have been a massive misstep. The franchise needed to slow down and focus on the characters. To say it's only half a movie is misinformation as well. It feels like a complete movie, at least more complete than Catching Fire ever did. As I mentioned, Peeta is kept prisoner by the Capitol, and he's being used as a propaganda weapon in response to Katniss' propaganda by the rebels. The whole plot of the movie is about this cat and mouse of propaganda as the two opposing sides try to get an upper hand on the people of Panem. The big final climax feels like the big final climax of a story, bringing this cat and mouse to an end. It's final moments are a resolution to the beginning and middle, and in that respect it absolutely has all three acts. Of course it has a cliffhanger moment right before the credits to segue into the next movie, but so did Catching Fire (and Desolation of Smaug, and Fast & Furious 6, and every Marvel movie etc. etc.) Everything else ticks all the right boxes as well; the acting is top-notch, especially from Jennifer Lawrence and Philip Seymour Hoffman (with a little memoriam for him in the credits). The visuals are on the nail. District 12 is now depicted in ruins, the CGI of the various ships and futuristic cityscape of the Capitol is flawless. There was also some fantastic use of CGI on Josh Hutcherson to make him look progressively thinner and beaten up as the movie goes along, showing the torture he must have been enduring. The musical score is fantastic, with the Mockingjay theme coming well and truly into it's element, as well as a fully fledged song that brings the rebellion to full strength in the propaganda war. Mockingjay proves that milking extra movies out of a franchise doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing (looking at you, Desolation of Smaug). It slows the franchise down and gives you time to breathe before the big conclusion next year, injecting plenty of heartfelt emotion to the whole situation, fleshing out the world, developing the characters etc. However it's not without it's higher-octane moments. There's a number of action scenes despite it's calmer narrative, which expand what was in the book to blistering effect (the fantastically suspenseful climax is apparently just a few lines in the book, largely glossed over). It's tense, unpredictable, emotional, yet has it's light-hearted moments. I give Mockingjay Part 1 a very good 8/10. It's made me very excited for next year when I can marathon the whole franchise in one go.

Like watching paint dry. Boring to a mind-numbing degree. How many times can we see Katniss be horrified and/or emotionally distraught? Maybe the filmmakers thought they were adding depth to their characters. Well, they were wrong. Instead we, the audience, sit through one scene after another in which really nothing happens at all. This whole thing could have easily been compressed down to 40 minutes and then we could have had the rest of the book as the rest of the film. This felt very much like they were stretching it out so they could make two movies - which is the new thing to do in Hollywood with these franchises. Not good storytelling.