The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I
(B- or 2.5/4 stars)
'Mockingjay: Part 1' - the 3rd installment of dystopian action adventure series, The Hunger Games - is not a bad movie. In my opinion, it's superior to the overrated 1st film (of which I score a C+), but I don't think it's as good as the 2nd film in this franchise (B). 'M:P1' picks up shortly after the end of 'Catching Fire', which saw teen sensation Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) & 2 others (Sam Claflin, Jena Malone) being rescued from the latest Games by a band of rebels & revealed that Katniss' home district (12) had been decimated by bombers sent by vicious President Coriolanus Snow (moustache-twirling Donald Sutherland).
Now, afflicted with a sort of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder & obsessed with whether her beloved friend/possible love interest, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), is alive, she has become utterly distraught, distant, & uncommunicative; lots of teary, mournful gazing going on. The District 12 refugees, including Katniss' family & pals Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) & Haymitch (underused Woody Harrelson), are living a secret subterranean bunker of District 13, which is led by steely-eyed, ambitious President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) with help from Gamesmaker-turned-advisor Plutarch Heavensbee (the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman). Pres. Coin wants to use Katniss for propaganda purposes - calling her the "Mockingjay" & turning her into a rallying point for rebellion across all the struggling districts (Plutarch would hire Cressida, played by Natalie Dormer, to shoot a series of pro-rebellion commercials starring Katniss as the defiant Mockingjay figurehead).
To be part of this, Katniss demands that Peeta - who IS alive & making bizarre pro-Capitol broadcasts - be rescued & given a pardon. President Coin reluctantly agrees & Katniss becomes a figurehead for the dissidents. As she visits the other rebelling Districts, as well as her own, Katniss realizes that it's time to stop all her hemming/hawing/fretting, pick up the bow & arrow, and rally the people to take down the Capitol -- but not until poor, malnourished, brainwashed Peeta is safe from Pres. Snow's oppressive control. Lots of intense brooding ensues as we wait for the expected fireworks of Part 2.
This is the first Hunger Games film not to chronicle a duel-to-the-death match. 'Mockingjay: Part 1' is more political, more character-based, & focuses on the ramifications of starting an uprising against a totalitarian regime. You know, this is a hard film to critique because, while I think it's a more sophisticated, absorbing, thoughtful endeavor than the 1st film in this series, it lacks the narrative through-story & energy of the 2nd -- and it still lacks a bit of heart. Director Francis Lawrence does a decent job capturing Katniss' emotional volatility as she goes from Hunger Games victor to revolutionary symbol (where image is as important as action). There's a grim (PG-13 pushed to the brink), melancholy tone to 'M:P1' that matches Katniss' state of mind. She's no longer the automatic It Girl.
3 movies in, Jennifer Lawrence really seems to have a grasp on the post-traumatic Katniss; someone who cares so deeply about her friend that she'd rather harp on finding him than about furthering Pres. Coin's mission (Julianne Moore is stellar as the cautious, if also calculating leader). I liked seeing ever-chatty Elizabeth Banks as Effie, Katniss' now right hand girl. The disdain she shows when she has to wear drab/grey clothing in the secret hideout is quite humorous. Liam Hemsworth is fine, if underused, as Gale, the young warrior who loves Katniss so much that he'd risk his life to save his rival for her affections, Peeta. Josh Hutcherson isn't onscreen much, but when he is, we see/feel his dire transformation from the charismatic, love struck teen into a starved, wild-eyed hostage.
'Mockingjay': Part 1' sets things up for the final film pretty well (where war will be the main focus). But as is, this particular film just felt like a slightly redundant, well-acted, topical, yet meannnnndering affair that is punctuated by bursts of exciting action to keep less interested adults awake. Rather than surviving an uber-violent reality competition, the storyline is about mostly starting a revolution & taking down the Pres. Snow/The Capitol. So when this kinda dour, kinda dreary movie arrives at its cliffhanger conclusion, there's an unavoidable, frustrating sense of anticlimax (12 months 'til the last film). By concentrating on Katniss' inner turmoil, the movie audience gets to FEEL for her, but are also left wanting to sink their teeth into the action sequences that will to assuredly pop-up in Part 2.
Now, afflicted with a sort of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder & obsessed with whether her beloved friend/possible love interest, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), is alive, she has become utterly distraught, distant, & uncommunicative; lots of teary, mournful gazing going on. The District 12 refugees, including Katniss' family & pals Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) & Haymitch (underused Woody Harrelson), are living a secret subterranean bunker of District 13, which is led by steely-eyed, ambitious President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) with help from Gamesmaker-turned-advisor Plutarch Heavensbee (the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman). Pres. Coin wants to use Katniss for propaganda purposes - calling her the "Mockingjay" & turning her into a rallying point for rebellion across all the struggling districts (Plutarch would hire Cressida, played by Natalie Dormer, to shoot a series of pro-rebellion commercials starring Katniss as the defiant Mockingjay figurehead).
To be part of this, Katniss demands that Peeta - who IS alive & making bizarre pro-Capitol broadcasts - be rescued & given a pardon. President Coin reluctantly agrees & Katniss becomes a figurehead for the dissidents. As she visits the other rebelling Districts, as well as her own, Katniss realizes that it's time to stop all her hemming/hawing/fretting, pick up the bow & arrow, and rally the people to take down the Capitol -- but not until poor, malnourished, brainwashed Peeta is safe from Pres. Snow's oppressive control. Lots of intense brooding ensues as we wait for the expected fireworks of Part 2.
This is the first Hunger Games film not to chronicle a duel-to-the-death match. 'Mockingjay: Part 1' is more political, more character-based, & focuses on the ramifications of starting an uprising against a totalitarian regime. You know, this is a hard film to critique because, while I think it's a more sophisticated, absorbing, thoughtful endeavor than the 1st film in this series, it lacks the narrative through-story & energy of the 2nd -- and it still lacks a bit of heart. Director Francis Lawrence does a decent job capturing Katniss' emotional volatility as she goes from Hunger Games victor to revolutionary symbol (where image is as important as action). There's a grim (PG-13 pushed to the brink), melancholy tone to 'M:P1' that matches Katniss' state of mind. She's no longer the automatic It Girl.
3 movies in, Jennifer Lawrence really seems to have a grasp on the post-traumatic Katniss; someone who cares so deeply about her friend that she'd rather harp on finding him than about furthering Pres. Coin's mission (Julianne Moore is stellar as the cautious, if also calculating leader). I liked seeing ever-chatty Elizabeth Banks as Effie, Katniss' now right hand girl. The disdain she shows when she has to wear drab/grey clothing in the secret hideout is quite humorous. Liam Hemsworth is fine, if underused, as Gale, the young warrior who loves Katniss so much that he'd risk his life to save his rival for her affections, Peeta. Josh Hutcherson isn't onscreen much, but when he is, we see/feel his dire transformation from the charismatic, love struck teen into a starved, wild-eyed hostage.
'Mockingjay': Part 1' sets things up for the final film pretty well (where war will be the main focus). But as is, this particular film just felt like a slightly redundant, well-acted, topical, yet meannnnndering affair that is punctuated by bursts of exciting action to keep less interested adults awake. Rather than surviving an uber-violent reality competition, the storyline is about mostly starting a revolution & taking down the Pres. Snow/The Capitol. So when this kinda dour, kinda dreary movie arrives at its cliffhanger conclusion, there's an unavoidable, frustrating sense of anticlimax (12 months 'til the last film). By concentrating on Katniss' inner turmoil, the movie audience gets to FEEL for her, but are also left wanting to sink their teeth into the action sequences that will to assuredly pop-up in Part 2.