Just an OK movie, with some very good things

Rating: 6/10 (21 November 2014)

Being a big fan of the books may have colored my opinion of this movie, but here it is.
I thought it was an OK movie. I am not sure I would watch it a second time, but eventually I will, because I want to own the full set of the HG movies on DVD. This was only a set up for part 2, and that's how the book is written. The movie did a good job of consolidating several scenes from the book, and adding some details that Katniss doesn't know in the book (action scenes- blowing up the peacekeepers, etc. were good). The best consolidation brought Effie in the movie much earlier than I expected. She simply replaced Katniss's prep team, and that was a masterful job of writing.
Some (including me) had felt that it was unnecessary to make Mockingjay into two movies, but making just one movie would have sacrificed a lot of useful information. So I don't have a problem with it now. Part 1 is just a set up to part 2, which I expect to be much better, just as the book is. The visuals were great. It ended at the most obvious point, but I would have liked them to carry the movie way past it. It would have allowed them to put more detail into part 2. Now they have to cover too much in part 2, so I don't know what will be sacrificed in it. I didn't have a major problem with where it ended because it was well done. I would say the beginning and the end were both well done. The middle part was not always good.
Couple of scenes bothered me a lot because those were big deviations from the book, and completely unnecessary, and IMO bordering on silly. They could have dropped those and instead spent more time on a couple of other scenes to make them more meaningful. The conversation between Katniss and Finick was kind of cut short in the movie. These two have formed a special bond since the quarter quell and the film makers could have used it better. Instead they wasted film on those added scenes.
The deviations were both introduced to show how 'great' Katniss is, while in the book she has a more objective opinion of herself, and I prefer that approach to what the movies show- making her superhuman.
The first scene that I disliked is when Katniss goes looking for her sister, while bombing is taking place. In the book her sister is late, but Katniss stays inside and asks the guards to keep the door open. It was ridiculous to show them outside during the bombing.
The second one is much worse. While a team is out to rescue the victors from the capital, Katniss asks to be put in contact with President Snow on the screen, and they have a conversation. She offers to trade places with Peeta. There is no such a thing in the book, and that added scene was totally unnecessary. The rescue operation was shown well, but it could have been shorter.
About acting - Jennifer Lawrence was very good, and she was the only one that had some good material to work with. Others didn't have much to work with. Julianne Moore's President Coin came across as too nice- could be a flaw in the screenplay. Philip Seymour Hoffman is/was such a great actor! His Plutarch Heavensby shows his true colors in this. He is a slime ball who doesn't care about people, but wants to use them in his propos. He does it with a smile on this face. I don't think many actors could have dug that deep into this character.
In the pictures published earlier, I had seen President Snow flanked by Peeta and Johanna, all wearing white. That scene never takes place in the movie. Apparently it was edited out. In any case there was no such scene in the book, but I would have been OK if they had shown what was being done to Johanna and Peeta. The movie doesn't even show Johanna till almost the end (that is actually consistent with the book, which is written from Katniss's perspective).
On the positive side, the movie keeps moving fast, despite the boring material and it is well edited, with a few exceptions. Visuals are excellent. I liked it that they brought the 'hanging tree' song in it- I didn't expect them to. Now I expect to see it in part 2.
Overall I would give it a 'B' grade. Here I gave it 7/10 because some things were handled very well (consolidating some scenes, and using Effie in place of Katniss's prep team). It is worth seeing once, but not more.