Review of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) by Patrick C — 11 Jun 2015

Mockingjay Part 1 takes an expected step down from the previous installments of this wildly successful series. Stretched into two feature films, the final chapter of Suzanne Collins' mega-hit YA novels is widely seen as a bit of a letdown. But commerce dictates that the masses want more not less. The results are good and bad.

The Good: character development! We finally get a sense of who some of these people are especially Effie Trinkett and Finick Odair, mere cyphers in the last installment, Catching Fire. The late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman gets to display his talents as Plutarch Heavensbee, the gamesmaker turncoat who now runs the resistance with District 13 leader Alma Coin - played sublimely by this year's likely Best Actress recipient Julianne Moore (Still Alice). Donald Sutherland also excels at showing the depths of depravity the malicious President Snow is capable of. He's perfect in the role. And Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence carries it all on her capable shoulders proving her status as a bona fide movie star. All this exposition is made palatable by her fiery portrayal of Katniss, a girl torn apart by war and her own conflicted emotions.

The Bad: Get on with it! With no Hunger Games in this Hunger Games, the action is limited to truncated scenes of bombings and rescue raids. I'm not sure if the studio doesn't want to spend money on these scenes or fears losing their PG-13 appeal. But the special effects have always been sorely lacking in the series as a whole. Time to up the ante for what will surely be an epic finale in 2015's concluding chapter.

Fans of the series will be pleased if not teased by this taste of better things to come.