The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part One

Cold Open:

EXT. DYSTOPIAN GOVERNMENT SQUARE

A non-descript future Dystopian society. Citizens are gathered around the square. A chief bad guy, The DYSTOPIAN LACKEY, steps forward. He's surrounded by his fellow lackeys.

DYSTOPIAN LACKEY

By order of the Hollywood money machine, all final films of all future film series are to be split into two parts. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part One shall be one of many of these two-part trilogies. Future servants include the final films of the Divergent and The Avengers film series. Any attempt to subvert our decree shall result in the offender getting laughed out of Hollywood.

Jethro promptly punts the Dystopian Lackey into orbit with a kick. The other lackeys follow.

JETHRO

Not if critics like me have anything to say about it!

The Review At Hand:

Yeah, what that guy said.

In the previous film, Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) cancelled the dreaded Hunger Games by destroying the studio. Evil President Sore Loser Snow (Donald Sutherland) responds by carpet-bombing Katniss's home District 12. Katniss finds herself in the underground District 13, which was long thought carpet-bombed too.

Katniss finds herself the Mockingjay, the symbol of the upcoming rebellion against the evil Capitol. The pressure from both sides threatens to crush her. It's especially so once she finds out what happened to her beloved Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).

Yes, that's it in a nutshell. Why did it need to be two movies? I'd say profit.

It's easily the shortest of the films so far at 123 minutes. And the plot is rather slow. A few plot points and action scenes happen here and there, but that's about it. That's a contrast to the previous films which were quicked pace and at least twenty minutes longer.

It gets good when stuff happens. Katniss's stiff-acting in a series of District 13 propaganda videos is amusing. The action scenes that happen are suitably tense. The acting was pretty good, especially from the leads. The final plot twist was especially suspenseful (even if it wasn't the twist I predicted in the Catching Fire review).

The set, costume and makeup designs are much more subdued than the other films. But I appreciated the artistry behind them. If only there wasn't a year-long gap between this and the next part. There's so much stuff from the story I'm waiting to see done.