Lazy Film Critic reviews....
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1 is the first part of the adaptation of Mockingjay, the last book in the Hunger Games series. The book follows Katniss doing a lot of rebel stuff, and fighting the Panem government. The film is directed by Francis Lawrence, who also directed Catching Fire, and brings a lot of his style to the table here as well. The film as always stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and Donald Sutherland. The film also has returning actors from Catching Fire, with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Claflin, Jeffrey Wright and Jena Malone, as well as new faces such as Juliaane Moore, Natalie Dormer, and Mahershala Ali.
As with the other movies, this film has a pretty big cast, as you can probably tell. Starting off, Jennifer Lawrence continues to do a great job as Katniss Everdeen. As a fan of the books, I found Lawrence to be a pretty good choice for Katniss. She has the emotion, she has the intensity, and she brings a lot of honesty to the role. Josh Hutcherson is also pretty good here, and in my opinion, has a better performance here than any of the other hunger games movies. However, like a lot of the other characters, the performances are good, but are short lived and not in the film a whole lot.
One of the better parts of The Hunger Games series are the underlying themes and ideas the story has, and the social/political statements it makes. This film has carried some of these statements the most of the series so-far. A large portion of the film is made up of Katniss and the rebels filming these propaganda films as a means of getting people riled up, and just overall making the rebellion bigger and stronger. This stuff was pretty cool, and was in the film a lot more than I expected. However, sometimes the film sacrificed action or even some exciting moments for these ones, which is kind of a bummer.
As the first part in a 2 parter, this film has a lot of build up. Much like Deathly Hallows part 1, a large portion of this films overall plot structure is kind of forgettable, and not very important. None of the characters die in this movie, and only one of the major events of Mockingjay ends up happening in this movie, which isn't great. I wouldn't say disappointing, because I wasn't expecting much else, but it's certainly worth bringing up.
Final Rating
Mockingjay part 1 is overall, a decent film. It's not the best in the series so-far, but I'm willing to bet the next film will be. It's got good acting, a neat commentary, but is also a bit slow, and feels like mostly filler. Not to mention, seriously unnecessary to split into 2 parts. However, if you're into The Hunger Games, I'd say go check it out.
Mockingjay part 1 is overall, a decent film. It's not the best in the series so-far, but I'm willing to bet the next film will be. It's got good acting, a neat commentary, but is also a bit slow, and feels like mostly filler. Not to mention, seriously unnecessary to split into 2 parts. However, if you're into The Hunger Games, I'd say go check it out.
The Hunger Games Mockingjay pt. 1: 3.7/5
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