Die Tribute von Panem - Mockingjay: Teil 1

This is not the mediocre first two movies that were a fun-filled joy ride in the spirit of Running Man, Battle Royale or Blood of Heroes. This is a realistic version instead, with a character-motive driven plot. Unlike the first two films this one actually matters. I hope the creators of this film are proud of their accomplishment. Instead of a cheesy thrill ride we have been introduced to the realities of war and rebellion and we were given good acting, good screen writing and characters we can identify with and care about. After watching hundreds of movies in the post apocalyptic genre this one stands out as significantly better than the others, especially the first two films. Thank you for making the Hunger Games series into something meaningful.

Having put an end to The Hunger Games forever, President Alma Coin uses Katniss as a beacon for hope. A reluctant Katniss has only one thing on her mind, to save Peeta.

I have to be honest, I have always struggled with this movie, it isn't bad, I just wish they could have got the story done in one go, I like the second part, I find this first half too fleshed out, it lacks any real content. It does get going, but later on, it's all build up for the second.

The visuals are great, there are plenty of action sequences and explosions, and of course sets and costumes look great. Lawrence is very good once again, but the script doesn't offer her the range that Catching Fire did.

Julianne Moore was excellent as President Coin I thought, very strong performance.

I did enjoy that scene where Peeta turned, having been absent for most of the movie, it was good to see him put to good use.

I liked that there was a message at the end for Philip Seymour Hoffman, RIP.

6/10.

In general, the drama part of the story is the movie. It is off by the action. Again new characters were included. The film is not able to spend permanent staff. The song "The Hanging Tree" was very beautiful. Also the sarcastic bird melody is already perfect. It was a troubled film that could have been nice.

You may want to save your money and time seeing this movie and wait for the last installment to come out next year, instead. Aside from Jennifer Lawrence, this movie offers nothing more than just a long and tiring tale of preparation for an impending rebellion.

Readers shouldn't get surprised: Mockingjay's first half chronicles District 13's efforts to groom Katniss as their heroine against the ruthless ruling Capitol. The process of transforming her into what they call the 'Mockingjay', a symbol of revolution, is engaging enough to ignite interest, but only up to a point, when long speeches and depictions of what the Hunger Games' downfall has caused, have almost become the only few things eating up the biggest slice of the movie's airtime pie. There is nothing much to see here, and while its refreshing to finally see the landscapes to have finally shifted away from the arenas, lack of action eventually makes the scenes that are almost only showing the events in the confinements, hard to appreciate, not to mention difficult to extract sense from.

Fortunately, it has Jennifer Lawrence, and that alone, is enough to pull the entire movie away whenever it leans toward making the audience fall to sleep. Jennifer's charm proves to be the biggest asset of this movie, and she alone, singularly saves the film from being a total nonsense. Toward the end, it isn't clear whether the makers of the film have made their point (aside from making more money of course) in splitting the book into two movies. This first half only presents a preview of what to happen next in the other half, only stretched into two hours of tiring sameness and boring exchanges of bland dialogues. The new characters are interesting yeah, but I'm not sure if anyone of them has offered something more than Lawrence, to spark further interest. Well, at least we can take comfort from the fact that the last movie next year will certainly offer a lot more, gripping action and drama, and that's really something to look forward to.

Mockingjay Pt.1 falls below the heights reached by the previous two films. Minus Lawrence, this film is a real bore, and its hard to seek something more than her to recommend. I give this film 6 of my 10 stars.

I really appreciate the way this series grows from the first entry, and the story in these final two films (I've watched the second part at the time of this review) is actually quite fantastic and bold. It's the execution that's lacking. The film is slow, too slow, and repetitive, too repetitive. Gone is the kinetic energy and sense of urgency that was so prevalent in Catching Fire. The script here isn't balanced nearly as well. I get that the final book is plot heavy, but sacrifices are natural to adaptations. This feels stretched out.

Fortunately the film has a great cast, and pretty solid cinematography, even if it's less vibrant than before. The character work is mostly fun, Sad Gale actually does some stuff (but is still a very boring character of a very boring, tedious love triangle). The cast are all excellent of course and the exploration of using propaganda was a great direction for the franchise.

Still, it feels greedy splitting the film. It could have been a great, concise trilogy but instead people watching the first two will always have a slog ahead of them.