Better than Catching Fire, But Still Not Great By Any Stretch!

Rating: 7/10 (28 November 2014)

It's so great that they've gotten beyond the arena and are now telling the story of a real war in progress! The best part of this film by far are the action sequences, such as the great lumberjack revolt and the assault on the Hoover Dam. And the "Hanging Tree" song and sequence was really moving and gave you a brief glimpse of what this series is always trying to pull off but never actually delivers.
The problem is, Katniss is still too passive to carry a story that involves nonstop action. In fact the name of this movie might as well be "Hunger Games: Pining for Peeta" because that's all she ever really does. And the love triangle remains really awkward and absent any real sexual tension, probably because the target audience is twelve years old. ("You kissed me because I'm in pain." You're not the only one, pal. You're not the only one!)
At the heart of this series is a fundamental flaw. The film makers want to have it both ways, sending a vaguely populist message while sneering at the great unwashed. In the story, we're told that when Our Girl talks, the common people listen, and that once they get on their hind legs there's no stopping them. Yet we're also told, in a very smug, nudge-nudge, wink-wink sort of way, that the people will never really listen to Our Girl UNLESS she has the right gown, the right hair, the right makeup, etc. etc. It's patronizing and it really grates on you after the fifth or sixth time. The old Hollywood did this kind of thing with much more class, without the condescension.
Speaking of the old Hollywood, I must really be getting old, because all through this film I kept closing my eyes and pretending I was watching "The Adventures of Robin Hood" with Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland (heroic outlaws in the woods bring down a tyrant) or else "Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid. (Steaming hot love triangle set against the backdrop of a fight against unspeakable evil.)
And then I opened my eyes, and found out I was out of luck.