The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Movie Review

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Movie Review

by Brian Wezowicz

There's a great scene in Mel Brooks' classic, Spaceballs, where Lonestar meets Yogurt.  After a brief introduction, Yogurt introduces Lonestar to the gift shop, where they've managed to put the movie on everything (Spaceballs: The Flamethrower!).  The scene served as both a satire on the commercialization of films and served as an eerily truthful prediction of things to come.

This is how I imagine the conversation between studio execs went the first time they mentioned splitting the final book in a popular series into two films.

Studio exec 1:  You know what would be better than one movie?

Studio exec 2:  No, what?

Studio exec 1:  TWO movies!

Studio exec 2:  OMG!  Let's do it for every movie series from here to eternity!!!

Then the two execs did a jumping high five.

What started as a great idea (Harry Potter, which fully deserved the dual movie treatment) has quickly blossomed to a shameless money grab.  From Twilight to The Avengers, every "final" movie is getting split in two.

Knowing that the story wouldn't end in this "final" chapter, I was still excited at the thought of going back to the rich world of Panem.  When we last left our heroine, Katniss Everdeen, she was being rescued from her second go-around in the Hunger Games by the leaders of the rebellion.  The twelve districts of Panem are in full scale mutiny against the capital, and Katniss is their symbol of freedom.  However, she does not accept her role in this rebellion.  She is reluctant to say the least.  It's not until she sees her destroyed home district (and the pile of bodies left by the Capital) that she agrees to become the Mockingjay, the one symbol that every district can rally to.

The Capital has their own symbol.  They have kidnapped Peeta, Katniss' love interest, and have forced him to film pro-Capital propaganda pieces.  There is a war coming, and the Capital is pulling out all the stops to stop it.  Katniss is heart broken at the sight of Peeta, and you can really feel her pain.  She believes that she is at fault for his distress, which only adds to her stress of being the Mockingjay.  All the acting in this film is top-notch.  Jennifer Lawrence keeps her hot streak going with her performance as Katniss.  Like the Harry Potter kids, I can't imagine anyone else playing this role.  The rest of the actors in this cast completely own their roles.  I should say something about the giant elephant in the room.  These Hunger Games movies are the great Philip Seymour Hoffman's last roles, and it's hard not to notice the pain he was feeling in his personal life seep into the role of Plutarch Heavensbee.  He looks tired and detached.  Maybe that's what he was going for in the performance, but it's not hard to notice art imitating life.

The problem I have with this film is that all of his could have and should have been covered in about an hour of film time.  Instead, the movie lasts over two hours and we don't really have any other scenes besides Katniss filming propaganda films aimed at stirring rebellion.  We never get the payoff.  I'm not completely against splitting a final story into two movies.  I just want there to be enough in the source material to merit this decision.  I just don't feel like there's enough here to do it.  The movie cuts to the credits as soon as the film picks up steam.  It does set up what is sure to be a balls to the wall part 2, that I'm already looking forward to.  I just wish that I didn't have to wait a year to see it.

I'm giving this movie 2.5 out of 4 stars.  It's a good movie, but it's incomplete and feels a little empty.  See it if you're a die-hard Hunger Games fan.