The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is kind of a bridge film which somewhat got extended unnecessarily to have a single movie feel. The Hunger Games premise is something that a category of audience find hard to call as sensible, as it mixes up technology and fantasy in a different way and for that section of audience, Mockingjay part 1 could be even more unconvincing.

This part of the sequel focuses on the preparation of the rebel gang under the leadership of District 13. Explaining the situation to Katniss Everdeen, the rebel leader Coin asks her to be the Mockingjay whom she believes would inspire people from other districts to join hands with 13 to make a strong attack against the capitol. The movie basically tells us their first step towards this rebel movement which includes the rescuing of the victors who are stuck in Capitol.

Unlike the other two movies in the series, the development of the plot is really slow here and the movie is kind of stuck within the inner facilities of District 13. As the movie shifts more to the politics in the story, it becomes more uninteresting mainly because of its lack of pace. Maybe to make it look like a movie of two hours, some irrelevant parts were given more emphasis.

The treatment this time from Francis Lawrence is too moody. The scripting lacks aggression which I believe was a key factor in the franchise’s success. Cinematography was good. Visual effects at times looked a bit tacky. BGMs were okay.

On screen Jennifer Lawrence did her complex character of the emotional Ms Everdeen very nicely. Liam Hemsworth was good as Gale. Philip Hoffman in his last outing (will be there in the second part too) also delivered a good on screen performance. Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Donald Sutherland, Josh Hutcherson and rest of the cast were all good in their respective roles.

So The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is not an exciting cinema when compared to the other two. Those who are interested in the franchise can watch it for the continuity. The rating is 2.5/5 for this episode. Kindly don’t watch it if you haven’t seen the first two parts. I am saying this because a majority inside the cinema hall from where I saw this film was clueless about what’s happening on screen.