The Hunger Games : Mockingjay part 1

[baal666]

Before the movie :

I haven't read the books but saw the first two movies, this third one could be interesting as it doesn't takes place into the Games anymore and deals with the rebellion against the Capitol.

Movie Plot :

After the events of the 75th Hunger Games where Katniss broke the Games and was saved by Plutarch, a rebellion is spreading in Panem.

President Coin, leader of the District 13, is trying to get Katniss to record propaganda clips, the rebellion needs a leader and a face and being the one who started it, Katniss has to be that face.

In the Capitol, President Snow is using is power to kill the rebellion and Peeta as a face to spread his word and try to get back the control over Panem.

My impressions :

+ The cast, Julianne Moore and Donald Sutherland as leaders of both sides are great and give the best performances of the movie.
+ The use of known faces and propaganda clips, both the Capitol and District 13 are using TV and Hunger Games winners to try to control the masses, this avoids the "Bad Capitol/Good District 13" manichaean thing, they are pursuing opposite goals but both are using the same dirty tactics.

- Slow, the whole movie seemed empty and pretty boring at times.
- Katniss lines, to sum up "Where is Peeta ? Save Peeta !" must be the most repeated words
- Underdeveloped characters, Cressida (Natalie Dormer) and her propaganda team could have been interesting characters but instead of remembering their faces and names they become "that girl from Game of Thrones leading the team, camera 1, camera 2 and another dude"
- Not enough Haymitch, who is in my opinion the most likeable character of these movies. That broken alcoholic who comes to speak his mind appears after about 40mns of the movie, then disappears only to reappear half an hour later.

To conclude, this movie is an obvious cash grab. I'm not against the idea of splitting a book into two movies if there is enough material or if something is added to justify it, but Hunger Games : Mockingjay part 1 is 2h long and could have been cut into a 50mn part of a 3h long last movie. I guess you'll have to see it if you're into the HG saga but honestly, i don't think it was worth the time and money spent to watch it. It isn't a shameful movie and i don't hate it but i remember some critics saying HG2 was just an HG1.5 so i hoped better for the first movie that was actually not dealing with the Game itself.

<big><big>6/10</big></big>