Hunger Games: MockingJay: Part 1

I think the thing that was different about this film was that I had read the book about a month ago. The story was very fresh in my memory, as opposed to the other two films where I remembered what happened but I was still with the story of the film and where it went.

The other problem with this is that since it is a two parter, they have the ability to get pretty in depth with the material they're working with.

This review is going to be sort of a comparison since that was very much how I viewed the film and I want to say a few words about the Mockingjay book. But in the end its going to be a film review.

Before I begin, here are my two reviews of the films prior, in case you need context.
Hunger Games
Catching Fire

Mockingjay Part 1 starts off almost right after the last movie. Katniss (played by Jennifer Lawerence) has been extracted from the 75th Hunger Games and she is now free and protected by District 13, the District everyone thought was destroyed. Instead they are moving forward with their resistance movement against the Capital with the uproar started by Katniss's actions in the last film. The uprising is lead by District 13's President Alma Coin (played by Julianne Moore)

There still really isn't an explanation about what happened to District 13. I'm realizing now that if you haven't read the book you're probably wondering... where are they? Where's District 13 and why does it look like Zion from the Matrix? It probably is the best its explained in all three movies that have come out but its still iffy.

Coin and the double agent game maker, Plutarch Heavensbee (played by the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman) want Katniss to take on the role of the Mockingjay, the face of the revolution.

Meanwhile, Peeta Mellark (played by Josh Hutcherson) is a captive of the Capital and being used as a figurehead for influencing a ceasefire. Katniss is unsure whether or not he's being forced to do so or not. Finally she agrees to be the Mockingjay if they rescue Peeta.

So the entire film is Katniss riling support for the resistance and doing PR for District 13. At first she's not very good at it but when they put her in the field and actually film what she does, they make these videos and paint her as the Mockingjay.

Its really fun to see the unintended pitting of Peeta and Katniss against each other. He's being used as the mouthpiece of the Capital. She's being used as the mouthpiece of District 13. Having read the book, its fun to see where that goes.

Now the one problem I have with the book is that Katniss is never really in battle. This resistance is going on, there's a civil war happening and Katniss is underground, shooting propaganda films, or having her love triangle drama. (I'll get to that in a second). You don't really get the feeling that there is actually a war going on. And I think that's a part that the movie had more freedom to do more with.

The book is restrained to Katniss's perspective, its told in the first person so she's not going to see the revolution happening. But with the movie, they're able to show this war going on. You're able to actually see President Snow be the evil dictator.

That was the part I was so happy to see that they improved on. Donald Sutherland actually brings it in this movie. Maybe its just he's doing more instead of talking blankly with a rose but he's actually intimidating in this movie. Sure he's still evil just for being evil and for me that makes him kind of bland as a villain, especially if he looks like Santa Claus. But at least in this film he was menacing. At least in this film you saw him order the bombing of a hospital. At least in this film you had the stereotypical dystopian future where the masses are in the rain looking up at a screen with their dictators face in front of them. I actually believed that President Snow was an asshole that needed to be eliminated. In the other films he was just an old man. Sure, I knew he was putting pressure on Katniss and is only power hungry but I never actually saw him be menacing, or evil. I was just told he was.

Which is a shame because as far as the book goes, he's barely in this story. And again, that's where the movie was able to take some liberties and improve the source material.

Talking from a reader's perspective, that's what the movie really does, improve on the source material.

The third Hunger Games book is really, really not that great. Like I said before, for a change of pace and setting the book within the revolution, there's a lot of sitting around and talking. The action scenes are few and far in between, and Suzanne Collins really isn't that great at writing action scenes.

Now the first half of the book, I really didn't mind that much. Its more the ending but we'll get to that when the next movie comes out. But I think that this movie really did some work on the story and kind of improved it, or at least adapted something boring and made it interesting. The book is better at foreshadowing tensions between Katniss and District 13, how she's being used by President Coin the same way President Snow used her.

But at the same time, the movie does a really good job at flushing out great parts of the book and expediting parts that were not as good. Katniss is suppose to be pretty fucked up from all the Hunger Games and experiences she's been through. Now this was really flushed out in the book but there's really only one scene where she's off her rocker. There are parts where she breaks down that are really good and really show Lawrence's acting ability, but they're not overplayed and she's still a very capable character in this film.

For a film based on the first half of a book where not much happens, a lot happens in this film. That was really great to see.

As far as individual performances go, there's a lot to talk about.

 Let's talk about J Law. This is her role. The woman can act, she returns to the role of Katniss like riding a bike. If you would have told me that Jennifer Lawrence, that chick from the first Hunger Games film was going to be this great of an actress. I would have laughed in your face.

It is now difficult to distinguish Katniss from Jennifer Lawrence, but the great part is, Jennifer Lawrence will not always been glued to Katniss. With her Oscar in Silver Linings Playbook, her great work in American Hustle and a shit load of other films, J Law has a very, very bright future ahead of her. Its really amazing how big she's gotten in such a short time.

I remember when she played Mystique in X-men: First Class... she wasn't that great. But she's worked at it. She's gotten a lot better since and its just fun watching her now.

So that's pretty much all I have to say about her. She does a really, really good job. Plain and simple.

Now similar to the first half of this book, Peeta isn't in this movie very much.

So... I can't really say that much about Josh Hutcherson in this film. I'm excited to see where he goes in the next film because shit goes down and he has a very, very big development.

I'm excited to see where that goes.

Now one that I will mention, and this really isn't Hutcherson's fault, but he's suppose to be in the Capital's captivity, and he's suppose to be malnourished and lose a lot of weight... now I'm not sure if they photoshopped him looking all sickly and stuff, and its serious stuff... but I couldn't stop but smile and think that Josh Hutcherson just looked like a bobble head. Again, not his fault the computer's aren't good enough and you have to be insane to actually lose that much weight and look that malnourished... Although its been done before.

In short, it just looked a little bit funny. Hutcherson did a good job for what he was given. Nothing spectacular but nothing horrible.

But then you have this motherfucker...

What a complete waste of space.

If you've read my Hunger Games reviews, I've mainly said that J Law and Hutcherson really got comfortable with their roles and really made the second movie their own. They developed their characters and really did a good job.

Liam... I mean was the guy even in the movie?

I've done a lot of reviews with movies with Liam Hemsworth and I give him a lot of shit because he's the brother of Thor and Chris Hemsworth is just so much better of an actor, but its fucking true.

The guy is just something pretty to look at. I refer back to The Onion's Review of Catching Fire but even in the parts that are suppose to be touching and moving as Gale looks over his destroyed District 12, its just kind of boring. In the book there is a lot of tension with Katniss and Gale as Gale is becoming more and more enthusiastic with the revolution. But in the movie, he's just a soldier. He picks up a crossbow at one point and shoots a target. He shoots a plane. He joins SEAL Team 6, I frankly just don't care what happens to him, he's just a piece of eye candy.

Woody Harrelson returns as Haymitch... he's fun in this film. I think the movie is probably lacking in scenes with him... in fact a lot of scenes just go on without him even in mind... Hmmm, never thought about that. But Woody Harrelson is so good it doesn't matter. When he's on screen its fun.

Julianne Moore as President Coin is an interesting case because she's not quite revealed yet. I read that Moore is looking forward to taking the character to a new territory, territory that again was limited by the book's first person narrative. I see the seeds of her becoming a really fun character in the next movie. I'll talk about that in a little bit.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman returns as Plutarch Heavensbee. Its kind of weird seeing him on screen since he has passed but it makes me really appreciate the guys work. Is Plutarch Heavensbee the role of the century? No. But Hoffman plays it well. Nothing spectacular but it doesn't necessarily have to be.

There are a couple other roles worth mentioning. Commander Boggs is played by that guy from House of Cards. Sam Claflin returns as Finnick Odair, although his part is very small in this film, good but small. Elizabeth Banks comes back for a change in the story from the book that makes a ton of sense. That guy from James Bond is back to play that one guy from the second film.

And then there's Natalie Dormer

Sure she's not the biggest role in the film. She's the director of the propaganda films. And while Dormer won't be the thing that everyone talks about with this film, this film does show promise for this Game of Thrones star.

I've seen up to the third season of Game of Thrones and I really like Dormer. I'll reserve judgment on her until I see her start getting into more and more movies, but for now she's on my radar of actresses to watch. She should have a pretty good career in front of her.

Now as far as the love triangle goes, the movie actually takes a step back from that. While the triangle was stressed in this film because Katniss is able to be with Gale but wants desperately to save Peeta, its incredibly underplayed. Katniss already seems to have made her choice and it really doesn't seem like its Gale in this film.

Needless to say, it underplayed and thank god for that. I think the popularity of the Twilight Series has finally been shed off of the Hunger Games and its not become something a lot better than that. While the books play off that love triangle, I think the movie knows there's more to the books than that and there's no need to overplay it.

Something I liked but would want to see more of is a development of the world around them. Sure we know the land is divided into districts, we know the Capital is evil, District 13, for the most part is good. But when they go to District 8, they just go to an interchangeable bombed out city.

It is fun seeing different parts of the revolution done in different districts. And honestly, I want to see more of this revolution happen, something I think will hopefully be flushed out in the next film...

But thats the difficulty I have with this movie. Its that it is the first part of a larger movie.

Since its all the rage now to split the last film in a series into two parts, of course this movie was split into two parts.

Now, like I said, this has its benefits. The movie is able to elaborate and really flush out the intricacies of the book. And I think this movie does that and it does it well.

I suppose the movie did what it was suppose to do. It's suppose to get your excited for the final conclusion coming out a year from now.

But the downfall to that is that since the movie was good and I want to see the rest of the film, I don't feel like I watched an entire movie. I feel like I watched half a movie. That's why this movie is hard to review for me. Its really just building up to the conclusion but I have to wait an entire year for that. I don't know, something about it just seems incomplete. And again, this both a compliment and a detriment to the film. It does a really good job setting up what will happen with President Coin, it does a good job at pointing where the film is headed. And yet I feel like I missed something.

Which is strange because the movie ends in a pretty concise way. It sets up for the next film, but as far as conflict and plot goes, it wraps up pretty well. And that's the confusing part. This movie stands on its own and yet it doesn't feel like I watched a full movie... its hard to explain.

Without belaboring it, Mockingjay Part 1 is a good film. I enjoyed it but felt a little bit incomplete, and for good reason, its part 1. Maybe its a little bit of a tease being that I have to wait a year to get closure on this film, but its good and definitely worth watching.

But have you seen Mockingjay Part 1? What did you think? Did you feel it was its own movie or just half of one? Comment and Discuss below!

I'll leave you with this. Sorry if its not the greatest video but apparently Woody Harrelson didn't know Liam and Chris Hemsworth were brothers... Woody Harrelson is the best. Enjoy!

I'm having some trouble getting videos on the blog right now... my wifi isn't that great. But I can get a link which is almost better. Here's SNL on the Hunger Games, Enjoy!

SNL Hunger Games!