Slow burn

Rating: 5/10 (30 May 2015)

No doubt wars and revolutions, like any other human activity, can be derailed by the emotions of those involved at its higher levels: jealousy, fear, revenge - even love triangles. It could be a compelling premise, to see how far someone can be distracted by his personal feelings and forget the big picture while Rome burns, but this doesn't feel like what Mockingjay is doing - at all. The movie just assumes you are very, very interested in Katniss' (Jennifer Lawrence) angst over choosing between gloomy Gale (Liam Hemsworth), the stoic alpha male, and milquetoast Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), the endangered, sensitive one, now prisoner of the government led by white-bearded boogeyman Snow (Donald Sutherland).
The idea of a protagonist who is supposed to lead a revolt but lacks natural charm and charisma is interesting, but too much time is devoted to a weepy Katniss brooding in an underground base as she is torn between Gale and Peeta. We get it - will you please go back to your revolution, lady? Never thought I'd miss murderous monkeys and poisonous fog, but there you are.
A fine cast is wasted, with Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Jeffrey Wright and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman having little to do, and the electric Jena Malone - the stand-out of Catching Fire - getting a few seconds of screen-time.
For all their flaws, I rather enjoyed the two previous movies; Katniss spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about Peeta in them as well, but the context was more cinematic. They had cliffhanger endings, but at least felt like complete entities in terms of structure. This is just truncated, a "to be continued" bridge to the next chapter.
5,5/10