Good development of the story with great effects and acting.

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2015)

There have been many negative reviews of this film, and the main reason why is because this film split the final book into two parts, thus, this film shows more of a story development rather than a story in itself. It complements the series, but it isn't a film to stand by itself. Having read the books as well as seen the previous films, I quite enjoyed part one of Mockingjay. True, there isn't much action, but we get to see a lot of character development which I'm always hoping for more in movies.
The acting was pretty great, though Hemsworth and Moore's portrayal of their characters seemed a bit flat. I guess Hemsworth's Gale has always been rather flat, but I was expecting a little more from Moore. Lawrence captures the emotions of her character well, as does Woody Harrelson who plays Haymitch. But for me, Elizabeth Banks was the one who really shined. She isn't on screen for long, but her character's personality is so unique and blatant that you can't help but notice her. She has done a great job in playing Effie Trinket so consistently throughout the series.
The effects as well were well done. This had a lot of explosions in it, and thankfully they did not look fake. Also, the graphics for the debris and destruction was really life like.
However, there was one major goof that was quite noticeable in the film. While filming propaganda videos to show the other districts, footage that wasn't captured by on-screen characters turned up in the video, which makes one think: who filmed that? There were also several other scenes that had me questioning things like that.
Overall, I wasn't disappointed like many were and quite enjoyed it. At first I questioned the splitting of Mockingjay into two parts, but it gives room for them to add more detail into the finale. I can't wait for part two!
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