Mockingjay Part 1 Review

Last years addition to the Hunger Games film series, Catching Fire, was perhaps one of the strongest films of the year. Even though I surprisingly enjoyed the first film, I expected the sequel to be a weaker entry and simply be the same film as the previous one much like The Hangover 2. Again, I was pleasantly surprised with the film and began building anticipation for the final entry. After the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman and the announcement of the film being broken into into two parts, I wondered how the film would fare upon release.

the film follows the events of Catching Fire, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Finnick (Sam Chaflin) and Beetee (Jeffery Wright) have been spirited away from the destruction of the Quarter Quell and brought to the underground military fortress of District 13 to aid in the war effort against the Capitol. Katniss is asked by Plutarch (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and resistance leader Coin (Julianne Moore) to become the symbol of the rebellion, and is conflicted between becoming a political symbol, and finding a way to rescue the captured Peeta (Josh Hutcherson).

I will start by saying this was the darkest entry into the Hunger Games series. The themes of war and the costs affiliated is a prevalent focus of the film, and I felt this was the most important aspects. Several parts of the film bared similarities to the struggle in Syria and the topic of modern revolution that were very timely. I feel it is important to show the people of my generation the real affects of war and not just the portraying it as a glorious or fun event that modern media tends to do with films and video games.

The performances were once again very good and the presence of Hoffman is a sad reminder of his death. A standout performance for me would be Elizabeth Banks as the flamboyantly theatrical Effie Trinket. In the previous films we saw her as a stooge for the government who's job was to keep up the image of glitz and glamour of the Capitol in the middle of the poverty and oppression stricken other Districts. In this film she is reduced to refugee status in the underground fortress of District 13 and for once is left without her eccentric costumes and forced to appear in public as her normal self. According to my sister, who is a reader of the book series, Effie was absent from the book and her appearance in the film was solely for the adaptation. This was an interesting choice as she is a character I've wanted to learn more about since the first film.

The only downside to this film would be the creaky and slow paced plot compared to the other films, Obviously the film is split into two parts and I imagine the second part will contain much more action and a diverse plot in the finale. I think the choice to split the film into two parts was a financial decision due to the success the Harry Potter and Twilight series had with the same tactic. After viewing  the film, I can now imagine this decision as being for length reasons. My sister mentioned that Mockingjay is the longest and densest of the novels and she thought it a good choice to divide the film into two parts so as not to have a rushed story or a four hour film. Despite the dragging of the plot, I am still thrilled to see the conclusion of this series.

Mockingjay: Part 1 was released in theaters on November 21st

On a side note, here is my sister at the theater