Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

It has become Hollywood’s signature move to split the final film of a franchise into two parts.  It has become as predictable as a Hulk Hogan hulk up and frankly, it has begun to wear a bit thin.  However, it is still no surprise that The Hunger Games part 3, better known as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, is actually the first half of the final book in The Hunger Games series.  Unfortunately, it is also widely considered the weakest book in the trilogy, making the decision to split it into two seem even more baffling.

We start off pretty much exactly where we left off at the end of Catching Fire.  Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) has been saved from the Hunger Games and taken to District 13, which until this point people believed destroyed after the previous rebellion of the Districts against the capital.  There she finds herself in the middle of a political situation that she didn’t sign up for.  President Coin (Julianne Moore) and Plutarch Heavensbee (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) want her to be the central figure in their propaganda campaign against the capital, however, her mind is rather preoccupied by the fact said Capital still has Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) in their grasp.

Let’s start with everything this film does right.  Firstly, it is full of some tremendous performances.  Jennifer Lawrence has so truly inhabited the role of Katniss that she really feels like the character.  For most of the film she is actually playing someone suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and she truly brings to life the hell that girl has been through.  Elsewhere, Hoffman reminds you just how much of a loss he is to cinema.  He is one of those actors who can say a million words with just a look and his interaction with the equally brilliant Julianne Moore, as the cold and distant President Coin, leads to several of the film highlights.  In fact, it’s a film so full of great performances that you feel like some people are sidelined.  Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson both return from the previous films and continue to be great, but play much reduced roles, while Donald Sutherland’s President Snow is wonderfully evil during his short screen time.

Another upside, is that there is some genuinely interesting moments in this film.  Moving away from the blood and thunder of the first few movies, this has become a political thriller.  It is now centered on the rebels and the Capital exchanging propaganda and looking to gain the attention of the people they both claim to represent and support.  It’s a very different movie to what has come before and in many ways, may be the bravest example of one of these teenage franchise films.  It also has some brilliant scenes.  An attack on a dam stands out, as people throw themselves into Capital gunfire to the sound of Katniss singing over the top.  It’s a genuinely chilling moment and one I am sure shall stick in the mind.

Despite these upsides, this is still ultimately a flawed movie.  It, much like Harry on Camping (to steal a joke from Wittertainment), feels entirely like a set up for what is to come next year.  Not enough happens and it could easily have been reduced to an hour-long, insuring that we got this all over and done with.  There are literally moments that are repeated, for example Katniss’s return to District 12, which while it mirrors the book, is completely unneeded.  In a less economically driven franchise, you would have merged those moments together, as well as ditching several others entirely.   They ultimately just serve to ram home a point that anyone paying attention has long ago picked up on.

While I admire this move towards a more politically based film, it also doesn’t hide the fact that there is a distinct lack of action throughout it.  People who come into this having only seen the first two and having no other knowledge of the series, will be disappointed to discover this is a much slower affair.  Plodding its way through dark corridors and discussions of propaganda, it is far removed from the gladiatorial encounters that made the franchises name  It is a sacrifice which I can imagine will see many people staring at their watch, long before the two-hour run time is up.

Mockingjay Part 1 has ultimately been let down by a studio decision.  The move to make this two separate films in order to make more money, has seen what could have been a good film become two hours of set up, which we now all have to wait a year to resolve.  There was a great Joss Whedon interview where he discussed Empire Strikes Back and how in many ways, it fails as a stand alone film.  Now, Empire Strikes Back is quite possibly my favourite movie of all time, but that doesn’t destroy the point.  It’s a criticism that can be directed towards this film as well.  It does not work as a movie in its own right.  It’s a movie that requires you to watch other films around it in order to get the full benefit and for all its strengths, it is a move you will watch once and never return to, which after two incredibly watchable films, is possibly its biggest failure.