The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Review [The Movie] (MR)

Mockingjay and the Hunger Games is one of the greatest box office hits of all time, so obviously I had to check the movie out for myself to see just how great the movie actually is. I never saw this movie while it was in theatres, only on DVD, so if there’s anything that I miss in this review, that’s probably why.

Now I’m not one to judge a book by its cover or rather a movie by its main menu, but President Snow’s overture in the main menu is honestly one of the creepiest things that I’ve ever heard. I feel like I’m listening to a Donald Trump speech. It’s like this movie predicted the presidential election before it even happened. Or maybe life mimics art?

See what I did there with the mockingjay reference? You know, the bird that mimics people. That’s right, I know my Hunger Games. I own the associated series of books as well, but that’s another story for another time. This is about the movie, not the book.

Plot

The movie starts out from sort of an odd position everything is destroyed, Peeta’s been kidnapped (along with a couple of the other 2nd Hunger Games contestants but you barely ever hear about them.), and Katniss Everdeen is out to save the day in the only way that she knows how, being a spokesmodel for a group of people that she barely represents, or wants to represent for that matter.

Characters

Katniss’ role in this movie actually has a lot more depth than in any of her previous movies. She’s not very smart, strong, or even wise. She’s sort of an ‘Every-girl’ sort of character turned spokesmodel and her actress does a really great job of portraying that.

Peeta kind of takes a backseat role in this movie as he does in pretty much every Hunger Games movie, poor Peeta. His face exemplifies ‘help me’ more and more with every encounter we have with him in this movie. Tell me that Peeta’s polished, paint-colored face doesn’t just scream “help me”

However, one of my biggest concerns with this movie is the other characters in this movie. If Peeta takes a backseat role in this movie, the other characters are locked in the trunk fighting for air. There’s just not enough room in this world for this many main characters.

Action

Honestly, one of the biggest things that bothers me in this movie is the lack of action. If I wonder to summarize this movie in one word it would be suspense. [Spoilers] Nothing really seems to happen in this movie till the very end where Peeta attacks Katniss, by almost strangling her to death, which was quite hilarious might I add. Remember how Peeta’s eyes were screaming help me before, Katniss’ face is like 10X more than that in that end scene. If desperation had a face, it was Katniss Everdeen. Although there were some parts of this movie that were a bit action oriented, I felt kind of blocked off. The people in the shelter got bombed but I really didn’t care that much about them. I can understand why Katniss’ cares but I honestly don’t, which might just be because I’m a cold-hearted individual, who likes to watch my pigs slaughtered before me in cold sweat (not really, of course, although I do like bacon). [End Spoilers]

Overall

This movie was actually not half bad. Much better than many of the summer blockbusters out there. It’s full of interesting characters and an intriguing story that will leave any audience wanting more. The things that kind of ruin my movie experience are the overflow of side characters and the lack of action, in this action-oriented film. You can’t just leave your audience in suspense like that. Hopefully the audience will get the release they need in the next film.

This movie gets an:

Expected rating of a 7/10.

Average rating of an 85%.

And

Overall rating of a 76%