Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1

“I wish she was dead” announces previous Hunger Games winner Finnick Odair (Calfin) when discussing his captive girlfriend Annie in the opening minutes of Mockingjay Part 1, “I wish they were all dead and we were too. It would be best.”

As has come to be expected, the latest installment in the wildly successful Hunger Games franchise is a bleak, affair. Yet whilst the previous films have been able to retreat back from the harsh and oppressive images of poverty and totalitarian dictatorship to indulge in the less politically challenging excitement and intensity of two dozen teenagers attempting to murder each other as efficiently as possible, Mockingjay is the first film in this series without a Hunger Games at its heart. The challenge for the film now becomes finding something as brutal and captivating to replace it.

We rejoin Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) after she was lifted, quite literally, from the midst of the titular games and thrust into the political uprising of the long forgotten District 13. Led by district president Alma Coin (Moore) and Capitol double agent/head of propaganda Plutarch Heavensbee (Seymour Hoffman), a decades-spanning plan to overthrow the Capitol is finally being put into motion.

The Rebellion was an inevitable end game that audiences will no doubt have seen coming, but there was still a lot of potential for it to provide a refreshing alternative to Battle Royale style action, and begin the final sprint to a satisfying end. What does come as a surprise however is that Katniss’ role as the face of the rebellion entails a lot less action and a lot more of what feels like sitting in on a market research panel. The rebels’ strategy for her role in the uprising goes little further than filming a series of guerrilla propaganda spots. We are occasionally treated to glimpses of far off clashes in other districts, but mostly must rely on tales from the front and extended scenes of our heroine scrabbling around in the rubble-strewn aftermath of various conflicts. There are initially some interesting comparisons to be drawn between the warring factions’ treatment of Katniss. She is a means to an end for both groups, and as their cover girl, the revolutionaries also smother her in make-up and shove her in front of cameras at every possible PR opportunity, in a way that comes close to insightful satire. As well as this, Katniss’s initial reluctance to join the rebel forces comes as a surprise that adds promising depth and conflict to the plot, but all issues are quickly resolved and subtle comparisons diluted.

However, the main gripe following every discussion of Mockingjay is that it has been added to the rapidly growing list of adaptive films that have been cleaved in two in order to wrangle as much money as possible from prospective audiences. As a result the guiding story arc of the source material is effectively rendered useless and the film must carve itself a new beginning middle and end from half a story. Choices like this are questionable even with stellar adaptive material, so putting this much pressure on the plot of a book which can’t necessarily boast the same level of quality, being far from a fan or critical favourite upon original release is potentially foolhardy. It leaves the action stretched and gives the film the very difficult task of whetting the audiences’ appetite for the final installment, while simultaneously withholding the best and most exciting material for the finale.

Performances across the board are reliably strong. A particular highlight is newcomer Julianne Moore, who slips into the role of the icy President Coin with ease. However the script feels bland and cliché in parts and the calibre of the cast deserves far better. The visual impact of the film follows suit, with what seems like a never ending sequences of bombed out towns and the underground bunkers of District 13. Whilst there are several scenes that deliver some real emotional impact, with a group trip to the now destroyed District 12 and a rallying rebellion song being an emotive high-point, Mockingjay grows tedious. Its tone is challenging, but it often slips from being bleak and moody into simply being dull.

We follow Katniss and her entourage from location to location with no indication of purpose, apart from an ambiguous aim of increasing her public appeal, a familiar rehash of a theme engaged in by both preceding films. The plot feels so inconsistent and padded at points that when it does ramp up to its climax, this slips onto the screen with so little resonance that it barely registers as a climax at all. We are left with a conclusion that, while surprising, was not necessarily worth the wait.

Mockingjay is by no means a poor entry into the Hunger Games canon. It confidently flaunts its ‘political-commentary-for-Y.A.’ as always, with an increasingly dark and unpatronising attitude. While it may be simplistic, it gets its message across in a way many films for similar demographics fail to achieve. This is a stance that should be applauded, considering the bland offerings this market has previously been subjected to.

Mockingjay proves its strength and confidence in its tone and indulgences in political subtexts, reinforced by strong performances all round, but it does little to generate the pure intensity and thrill of the first two films. While they were by no means perfect, they offered a more robust and engaging narrative. Fans of the series will no doubt enjoy their franchise receiving another solid and for the most part faithful adaptation, but the less committed audience members may be left facing the long wait for part 2 with apathy rather than eagerness.

[youtube id=”C_Tsj_wTJkQ”]