The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

The latest and final entry in The Hunger Games series has been divided into two parts.  This has been a popular move with franchises ever since Harry Potter and Twilight divided their final installments into two parts around the same time.  For the studio, this means an extra opportunity to milk their precious cash cow.  For the fans (at least in this case), it means a dragged out set up for the second half, which is set to hit theaters this time next year.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 has about an hour of plot stretched to two hours.  It's also easily the most visually drab entry in the series so far, as a majority of the film is set in an underground bunker, or smoldering ruins.  Even as someone who was not particularly fond of the previous two films, this feels like a step down.  At least the last one, Catching Fire, had me interested in where the story was going.  Here, I felt like I was constantly waiting for the plot to get going, and when it feels like it's about to, the movie ends.  The movie has an intriguing idea behind it, as it's built mostly around a propaganda war between the evil Capital, led by President Snow (Donald Sutherland), and a band of rebels who have been building resistance underground and undetected up until now.  The idea of both sides of the war manipulating their people to rally behind them intrigued me, but the movie plays it safe.  The rebels are entirely good, and the Capital is pure evil.  Wouldn't it have been more interesting if the movie developed a more gray moral code, and really looked at how the rebels are sometimes being just as manipulative as the Capital?  Or maybe show some Capital citizens doubting the information that they are being fed by their superiors?

That's not what the fanbase wants, of course.  They want to find out what happened to young Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) after the last film ended on an effective cliffhanger.  After being rescued by the rebels at the end of Catching Fire, Katniss learns that her home district has been bombed by President Snow's forces, and that her love interest, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), is now a captive within the Capital, and is being forced to do propaganda-laced interviews supporting the Capital that are broadcast on TV.  Katniss is now living amongst the rebels in an underground bunker, led by their leader, President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), and her right-hand man, Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman, in one of his final screen appearances).  Alma wants to use Katniss is a series of propaganda videos of her own, in the intent of rallying the people against Snow's forces.  Katniss eventually agrees to cooperate, but only if the rebels can guarantee that they will rescue Peeta, and that he will be pardoned of his crimes for helping the Capital, as she is certain he is being forced against his will.

Instead of moving the story forward, or setting up exciting possibilities, the narrative here often seems to be stalling for time.  We are reunited with some old faces from the past entries, such as Elizabeth Banks' outlandish Effie, and Woody Harrelson's Haymitch, but neither of them are given much to do.  The new faces to the cast, particularly Julianne Moore, also seem underused.  You would think that with this film taking a less action-heavy approach than the last two that there would at least be more time for character development.  Sadly, the characters came across as being just as uninteresting and underdeveloped as they have in the past.  Donald Sutherland has the potential for making a smooth, yet chilling villain, but he is given so little screen time here, you wonder if some of his scenes were left on the cutting room floor.  The most interesting thing about his performance is how the filmmakers have kind of made him look like what would happen if Santa Claus somehow became a fascist dictator.

Since the characters on both sides of the war are so lacking in personality, it's hard to have any feelings for those involved.  In particular, Katniss, the character we're supposed to get behind, often comes across as a crushing bore.  There's no denying that Jennifer Lawrence is one of the more exciting young actresses working in Hollywood today.  But the material here does her no favors, and never allows her to develop into a truly interesting character.  We don't truly learn how she feels about being a pawn in a war, a propaganda tool that's used to rally the people.  Surely she would have some kind of take on everything that's happening to her, but she remains mostly fixated on her love triangle between Peeta, and the equally good-looking and fairly bland Gale (Liam Hemsworth).  By the way, those in the audience who do care about the developing love triangle will most likely be disappointed, as the relationship element gets little screen time, other than a kiss shared between Katniss and Gale that generates few sparks.

Mockingjay - Part 1 essentially feels like a set up for bigger things to come.  I guess we'll know for sure a year from now.  All I can say is that the charms that have sucked in millions of readers with the original books, and now millions of viewers with the film series, continue to elude me.  To those who have been sucked in, you'll probably enjoy this.  But then, you also probably already know how the story ends, so I don't know how effective all this build up will be for you.

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