The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Review

With the release of Part 2 of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay coming out on Friday November 20th, I thought I would take a look back at the entire series (primarily because I’ve never seen any of the movies or read any of the books for that matter). You can see any of my previous installments here.

Following her rescue from the devastating Quarter Quell, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) awakes in the complex beneath the supposedly destroyed District 13. Her home, District 12, has been reduced to rubble, and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) is now the brainwashed captive of President Snow (Donald Sutherland). At the same time, Katniss also learns about a secret rebellion spreading throughout all of Panem, a rebellion that will place her at the center of a plot to turn the tables on Snow.

So I didn’t see any of the movies or read any of the books but I am still aware of the series and all of its three (and almost four) films so far. I think I must have been the only one who hasn’t yet. It’s human nature for things in the second film to not seem as climactic when you’ve previously known things about films past and future. This review will be based on this.

So this is the last one before the next entry comes out. This one picks up right where the last film, Catching Fire, left off with Katniss (Lawrence) being saved from the last Hunger Games. She wakes up within the underground complex comprising the supposedly destroyed District 13. She soon learns of a rebellion developing amongst the other 11 districts. District 12, Katniss and Peeta’s (Hutcherson) home, was destroyed by President Snow (Sutherland) and the Capitol. This rebellion, led by President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), hopes to unite the people of the remaining districts against Snow and the Capitol. Seeing that Katniss has gained a following amongst the people of the Districts following her actions in the last few Hunger Games, Coin and Heavensbee aim to court her to be the face behind their rebellion. Initially skeptical of joining, she eventually decides to join. With interference from the Capitol and the brainwashed pleas to stop the war by Peeta who was kidnapped by the Capitol, Katniss must rally the people of Panem to their cause. So the film took a different direction from the previous two films in that it is less about the actual Hunger Games (which I’ve always found silly) and more about developing the backstory behind the world which I’ve enjoyed so far. I still don’t know how their world came to be but seeing it as it is now was interesting enough. I just wish I had seen more since I didn’t get a chance to see the results of their actions just yet which is why I hate it when they split stories into two films. Also because of that (I think), there wasn’t as much action as I would have liked but I think they might (I hope) make up for that in the next part. The one thing that has been consistent with the series so far has been the quality of the acting and it is no different here. I found that Lawrence and Hutcherson did the best with what they had which was primarily set up for the next film. I think Hutcherson was good but I did not agree with the use of his character in this film as I found that it did not add much. I also thought the returning supporting characters, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), and Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) (just to name a few), were good as well. Some may not like the pace of the film since it is a little slower than previous films  and the purpose of the film serves as buildup for the next film but I mildly disagree as I thought it could have been better but I wasn’t completely disappointed. Overall, this is another decent entry in the series, albeit a buildup to the next film. I’ll just say that the next film better be great.

Score: 6.5/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.