You may be feeling your patience wearing thin while watching The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1; that is, if you’ve only come on board for the tense wheel of brutality in which two tributes from each district are forced to kill each other until one remains. No, there’s no such hunger games here as compared to the previous two installments, what Mockingjay Part 1 focuses on is the more detailed aspects of the potential revolution and how the rebels – the leads of which are concentrated in the shabby District 13 – hope to encourage everyone in Panem to take on The Capitol
After emerging victor in the previous two hunger games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) finds herself as some sort of political weapon being used in a battle between the seemingly genuine rebels and the flat-out fascist ‘capitol’; a commodity if you will. She has become the symbolic Mockingjay more so now than before she made the decision to break the games with a single arrow, and the price to pay for that is a hell of a lot of media posturing. Because that’s what Mockingjay Part 1 is really about, as slow burning it can be at times, this installment is about how wars are won through propaganda and through appearances.
Katniss spends much of the film in an angry state, cursing the rebels for not rescuing Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and leaving him in the hands of the Capitol and President Snow (Donald Sutherland), while her status as an unwilling symbol of rebellion is exploited by the politically minded Plutarch Heavensbee (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore). It’s bittersweet to see Hoffman in the film so frequently, as he plays perhaps a bigger part than any of the other non-Katniss characters, and he does so with absolute finesse, ensuring that everything down to the micro-expressions blend seamlessly into his character.
The movie is told from Katniss’ perspective so we only get an outside glimpse of Peeta’s life in the Capitol, something which would have been just as – if not more – interesting than the table-setting going on in District 13 and the obliterated District 12, which the rebels use against The Capitol in their propoganda videos to fuel their insurrection. Peeta is being played against Katniss, adding some substance to the consistent game of chess that is thread throughout the film, although this leads to a lot of Katniss just standing open-mouthed watching Peeta on the screen as he discourages the rebels in interviews with Caeser (Stanley Tucci).
Jeffrey Wright makes a very welcome return as the scientific Beetee, playing a key role in the offensive strategies of the rebels and serving Katniss in a similar way Q would serve James Bond, with badass advanced tech to augment her already capable hunting skills. It’s because of this, and only this, that we get some big – albeit brief – action pieces which involve explosive arrows and downed jet fighters in a visually stunning scene. Less impressive peripheral roles include Natalie Dormer’s debut as the rather forgettable Cressida, brought on team as a glorified camerawoman and director of the propoganda films.
Visuals do play a big part in the better parts of this penultimate installment, and since we aren’t dipping into the actual hunger games this time, we get to explore more of panem and the natural beauty that still remains of the different districts, a nice balance against the harsh bunker environments we are stuck in for much of the film. The majority of the film is still very grey though, bleak in both tone and aesthetic, putting a damper on the pacing only because things are often drawn out so much.
In cleaving Mockingjay into two parts, cutting things off when they begin to pick up in scale, director Francis Lawrence and his crew are allowed to be patient with the story, allowing for them to pour in a bit more detail than one would have expected and while it probably makes for a weaker installment in the hugely successful series, it places the final movie – released 12 months from now – in a very strong position. In that respect, Part 1 is a necessary entry and it taking it’s time is likely to be appreciated more when it’s all over next year.
Review Score: THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running Time: 123 minutes
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is currently screening in cinemas
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