COURTESY: MOVIEPOSTERSDB.COM
Rating: B+
As one of the most anticipated films of 2014, “Mockingjay – Part 1” would have had to have been perfect to live up to the hype surrounding the Mockingjay, and – much like President Coin’s (Julianne Moore) initial reaction to beloved heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) – I was left largely unimpressed. Not to say that “Mockingjay” is bad; it’s actually decently good, just not as good as its predecessors.
Picking up immediately where “Catching Fire” left off, “Mockingjay” opens with a very broken Katniss, still reeling from surviving the Quarter Quell, losing Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) to the Capitol and seeing her home district bombed and destroyed. Toss in more complications with the Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle and a struggle to fully assimilate into the strict, subterranean life of District 13, and Katniss is nowhere near embodying the Mockingjay that President Coin and Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) need as the face of the rebellion.
Essentially, “Mockingjay – Part 1” focuses on the personal struggles of those deeply embroiled in warfare and rebellion. In a string of events beginning two films ago, Katniss has emerged as one of the most powerful people in Panem, and with this power, her life and the lives of those she loves is threatened.
Where the first two movies were largely about Katniss and Peeta surviving in the arena, “Mockingjay” is about Katniss surviving in the world outside and dealing with the repercussions of becoming the Capitol and President Snow’s (Donald Sutherland) number one enemy. Remaining true to Suzanne Collins’ novel – which make sense as she also wrote the screenplay – Katniss is a reluctant and selfish leader. She’s human. All she wants is to protect her loved ones and live in peace, but she knows that her life is now tied to all the lives of the Districts. This internal conflict is key to the film, and – unsurprisingly – Jennifer Lawrence portrays these complex emotions expertly. She’s one of the best actresses of her generation, which certainly helps the film given that “Mockingjay – Part 1” focuses on Katniss disproportionately more than the previous films.
Even so, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore and Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket all showcase their talents in the little screen time given to them.
So, if the acting, storyline and characterizations are all so good, why isn’t “Mockingjay – Part 1” as good as “Catching Fire”? You can find the answer in its name.
In recent years, film franchises (“Harry Potter” and “Twilight”) have been eager to divide the final film – regardless of source material – into two parts in order to maximize profit and exploit rabid fan bases. However, the decision to split the third and final book into two feature films does not work in this case.
With director Francis Lawrence choosing to focus so closely on Katniss’s struggle with becoming the Mockingjay, he has essentially created a film that – as far as blockbusters go – feels boring and slow and does not match the previous entries in the franchise.
If you’ve read Collins’s novel, you will know that the most pivotal moments in Katniss’s story are yet to come. So, where “Mockingjay – Part 1” was almost a snoozefest, “Part 2” is set to be so packed plotwise that the resulting product will probably feel overdone and rushed.
My major complaint is simply that a two-part finale was not ideal with the direction that Francis Lawrence decided to go in. A final, huge film in the vein of “The Lord of the Rings” would have been fine with me, and rather than feeling underwhelmed, I would probably still be fangirling as I typed this review.
“Mockingjay – Part 1” is still a good film, and if you’re a fan of Jennifer Lawrence (who isn’t?) you’ll have the pleasure of also hearing her sing. Is there anything our Mockingjay can’t do?
Seeing this one in theaters is not essential, but I can almost guarantee that “Mockingjay – Part 2” due out next November will be the best film of the franchise.
