Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Year: 2014
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Mahershala Ali, Natalie Dormer, Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore & Philip Seymour Hoffman
Runtime: 123 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 07/07/20
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Mahershala Ali, Natalie Dormer, Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore & Philip Seymour Hoffman
Runtime: 123 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 07/07/20
I remember when it was announced that the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would be released in two parts. It was met with equal parts praise and negativity. Praise for how a double feature would allow for much greater depth and a more accurate adaptation of the book (something that had been plaguing the Harry Potter series for a few films due to the books ever increasing length); but criticism for making audiences have to pay to watch two films that only told half the story each, there were also concerns that it would become bloated with a total run time of just over 4 hours 30 minutes. Ultimately though Deathly Hallows set a precedent for the future of YA adaptations by splitting the final entry into two parts to be released over two years, whether it was necessary or not. The Hunger Games was no exception to this and many questioned whether the first Mockingjay film would be in any way entertaining due to the books infamously slow and generally uneventful start.
The end of Catching Fire was a twist very few could see coming. A select few higher ups from the capitol as well as several of the tributes that were in the arena had banded together to rebel against The Capitol. There were riots in the Districts, high value targets went missing, and Katniss destroyed the arena allowing a rescue to be mounted. The result was that District 12 was destroyed, the rescued tributes were holed up with the new resistance in the remains of District 13, and those that weren’t rescued such as Peeta were being held captive by The Capitol.
Mockingjay Part 1 is perhaps the bleakest Hunger Games film in the entire series. It starts off with Katniss quite literally cowering in a hole as she tries to calm herself down and processing everything that has happened over the last couple of days. She is damaged beyond repair and is a nervous wreck whose only concern is to find and save Peeta. Plutarch Heavensbee wishes to use Katniss as the face of the resistance in a series of propaganda films; whilst leader of the resistance, President Coin seems unwilling to put her faith in Katniss or accept the conditions of Katniss’ acceptance of the role of Mockingjay.
In order to continue stoking the flames in the Districts, Katniss ventures out into warzones to shoot propaganda material; all whilst she continues to push for Peeta’s rescue.
The end of Catching Fire was a twist very few could see coming. A select few higher ups from the capitol as well as several of the tributes that were in the arena had banded together to rebel against The Capitol. There were riots in the Districts, high value targets went missing, and Katniss destroyed the arena allowing a rescue to be mounted. The result was that District 12 was destroyed, the rescued tributes were holed up with the new resistance in the remains of District 13, and those that weren’t rescued such as Peeta were being held captive by The Capitol.
Mockingjay Part 1 is perhaps the bleakest Hunger Games film in the entire series. It starts off with Katniss quite literally cowering in a hole as she tries to calm herself down and processing everything that has happened over the last couple of days. She is damaged beyond repair and is a nervous wreck whose only concern is to find and save Peeta. Plutarch Heavensbee wishes to use Katniss as the face of the resistance in a series of propaganda films; whilst leader of the resistance, President Coin seems unwilling to put her faith in Katniss or accept the conditions of Katniss’ acceptance of the role of Mockingjay.
In order to continue stoking the flames in the Districts, Katniss ventures out into warzones to shoot propaganda material; all whilst she continues to push for Peeta’s rescue.
Mockingjay Part 1 has a difficult task of adapting around 200 pages of a 400-page book, most of which are spent in tunnels talking about the plan of attack for the second half of the book. However, what it manages to do is refocus and streamline the narrative of the book into a story about propaganda and the power it can have, the toll of psychological warfare, as well as the devastating effects of war against a more powerful foe. There’s a particularly harrowing scene early on in the film where Katniss returns to District 12 and wanders among a street of charred human remains amongst piles of rubble. This is followed up by another scene shortly thereafter where Katniss witnesses the bombing of a hospital where hundreds of injured families are slaughtered.
Mockingjay Part 1 centres a lot on Katniss’ mental wellbeing too, really taking the time to explore just how damaged she has become due to the 74th & 75th Hunger Games, as well as her persecution by President Snow. This is where Jennifer Lawrence truly began to shine in her early career as we get to see the true flexibility of her range, from Catching Fire’s confident yet damaged warrior, to Mockingjay’s mentally unstable nervous wreck.
The secondary characters aren’t given a whole lot to do which is a shame. We get to spend more time with Gale (Liam Hemsworth) this time round, but we don’t really learn anything new about him or see him finally start to give a shit about Katniss despite being completely in love with her. He’s now some big shot in the resistance who can formulate attack plans and go on big missions. But all his actions are to try and win the love of Katniss, but he always acts like a complete ass to her so the whole love triangle thing that the story is trying to force just doesn’t work because I find it so difficult to believe that Katniss would be so in love with someone who resents almost every action she makes and holds those decisions against her despite her clearly unstable mental state.
The best performance from the secondary cast comes from newcomer President Coin, played by Julianne Moore. Much like Plutarch in Catching Fire we as an audience cannot trust her but are given no choice to. Her rousing speeches to District 13 and her unconventional strategies for getting things done make her memorable and Moore does a good job playing her.
Unfortunately, my favourite characters are all but absent in this entry. Both Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, and Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket only have small scenes with hardly any dialogue meaning that Mockingjay Part 1 is almost completely devoid of humour. It makes sense because this is now a gritty war film, but it does grate a little because the film is still aiming for the ages 12 and up market so it can never be as devoid of joy as a film like The Road, but never actually provides any happiness either so it ends up in a weird limbo where everyone’s just a bit disappointed with their current situation.
Overall Mockingjay Part 1 is a serviceable adaptation of the source material, considering how difficult the first half of the book is to adapt into an engaging standalone product. But in comparison to the previous two films it is well below the standard we have come to expect. This mostly boils down to the fact that this is just 2 hours of Jennifer Lawrence screaming and crying in an underground bunker. Hard to recommend unless you’re already invested in the Hunger Games storyline.
Mockingjay Part 1 centres a lot on Katniss’ mental wellbeing too, really taking the time to explore just how damaged she has become due to the 74th & 75th Hunger Games, as well as her persecution by President Snow. This is where Jennifer Lawrence truly began to shine in her early career as we get to see the true flexibility of her range, from Catching Fire’s confident yet damaged warrior, to Mockingjay’s mentally unstable nervous wreck.
The secondary characters aren’t given a whole lot to do which is a shame. We get to spend more time with Gale (Liam Hemsworth) this time round, but we don’t really learn anything new about him or see him finally start to give a shit about Katniss despite being completely in love with her. He’s now some big shot in the resistance who can formulate attack plans and go on big missions. But all his actions are to try and win the love of Katniss, but he always acts like a complete ass to her so the whole love triangle thing that the story is trying to force just doesn’t work because I find it so difficult to believe that Katniss would be so in love with someone who resents almost every action she makes and holds those decisions against her despite her clearly unstable mental state.
The best performance from the secondary cast comes from newcomer President Coin, played by Julianne Moore. Much like Plutarch in Catching Fire we as an audience cannot trust her but are given no choice to. Her rousing speeches to District 13 and her unconventional strategies for getting things done make her memorable and Moore does a good job playing her.
Unfortunately, my favourite characters are all but absent in this entry. Both Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, and Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket only have small scenes with hardly any dialogue meaning that Mockingjay Part 1 is almost completely devoid of humour. It makes sense because this is now a gritty war film, but it does grate a little because the film is still aiming for the ages 12 and up market so it can never be as devoid of joy as a film like The Road, but never actually provides any happiness either so it ends up in a weird limbo where everyone’s just a bit disappointed with their current situation.
Overall Mockingjay Part 1 is a serviceable adaptation of the source material, considering how difficult the first half of the book is to adapt into an engaging standalone product. But in comparison to the previous two films it is well below the standard we have come to expect. This mostly boils down to the fact that this is just 2 hours of Jennifer Lawrence screaming and crying in an underground bunker. Hard to recommend unless you’re already invested in the Hunger Games storyline.