A great slow burn that sets up a fantastic finale

Rating: 8/10 (21 November 2014)

The Hunger Games books are surprisingly great reads, but fans would mostly agree that the third book just isn't as consistently engaging as the first two. It's not dreadful by any means, but it does not make good use of the extra room it has with the lack of the hunger games themselves. I will say that I like the games as entertainment but the most thought provoking parts come outside of the games, so it was disappointing that Suzanne Collins just could not come up with enough interesting interactions and moments to keep it interesting.
The fact that the first two books really focused on Katniss worked very well. Sadly, the third book continues focusing solely on her point of few when it should have opened up more. As a reader, you miss out on the big picture because the only picture we're getting is Katniss. This expanded focus makes The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 one of the few films that is better than the source material.
Mockingjay starts almost exactly after the conclusion of Catching Fire. Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence, arrives in District 13 where she discovers that Plutarch Heavensbee, Phillips Seymour Hoffman, and District 13's president Alma Coin, Julianne Moore, want her made into the revolution's face/symbol. Next you learn that Peeta, Josh Hutcherson, has been taken captive by the Capitol and is forced into doing propaganda for President Snow, Donald Sutherland. Katniss agrees to be the face of the revolution, which entails filming propaganda, but only if District 13 agrees to rescue Peeta and so the revolution begins.
This movie has far less the action than the previous two movies and instead can be seen more as a character study of how previous events affected the characters. The film touches on issues of PTSD, War, Remorse, death, and is pretty depressing at times but emotionally stunning at others. The films themes about control and perception are expertly injected, and never take a back seat to action sequences. Director, Francis Lawrence, wisely focuses on the story and all the characters instead of the world. This might be the most subdued film in terms of action in the series despite being the biggest in terms of budget, and yet that is a positive not a negative.
In the third book, the reader is forced to get all its information through Katniss, and it just does not work. The film's take shifts the focus to a wider view of the characters and this makes even small events that occur have more meaning. For instance, The rescue of Peeta really is not explained well in the book, but in the film it is constructed way more effectively, and revs up the tension dramatically.
The films drastic change in focus creates some changes in plot that some purists might get upset about, but in the end the story is better off. Katniss feels less powerless in the film and it makes her character more interesting. With the first two movies under her belt, Jennifer Lawrence is really bringing the character to life, and man does she know how to deliver a powerful speech. She is surrounded by a cast that should get its due as well. Moore is solid as Alma Coin and Hoffman's subdued but great performance shows what a shame it was to see him go too soon. Woody Harrelson Haymitch is still fantastic, but his character gets moved a bit to the side thanks to a complex plot and the love competition between Peeta and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) that is actually handled well. Most of the rest of the cast really do a great job as well.
Book adaptations are more often than not tricky business, especially when a single book is split into two movies. The main problem is trying to find a spot to stop the movie about halfway through where nothing was supposed to conclude. Mockingjay mostly avoids this, even if there are some small parts that make this feel like part one of a single story. Mockingjay part 1 builds differently from the previous two films. The difference being that the film is actually building toward something, but instead of just the plot advancing you get character advancement as well and that makes this a very different but improved experience. (8/10)