Half incomplete

Rating: 8/10 (22 November 2014)

Adjusting to life in the militaristic District 13(which is reasonably well-established, no Zion going on here), Katniss(Lawrence, strong female role model, compelling as always) is asked to be the Mockingjay, the face of the rebellion. She's not even sure if she can be, but when Peeta(Hutcherson, clearly abused, broken) appears on TV, calling for a ceasefire, she realizes if they win, he will likely be executed as a traitor. In exchange for his safety and rescue, she does agree – and has to convince the thousands of civilians in Panem to rise and fight the hundreds of Peacekeepers(with a very relevant image of a now-militarized country) and the evil, selfish and dictatorial Capitol, led by the vicious President Snow(Sutherland, sinister and terrifying).
Where the first two are satire on Reality TV and gladiatorial combat, this completely abandons the Games, instead exploring modern media and how it reflects and affects the culture, with both the State and the guerrilla fighting in part via propaganda, with this 2010 book predicting that aspect of IS. Going into this expecting it to be the same thing as the first two will lead to disappointment. Unfortunately, clever as this is, there are other issues. I'm not only referring to the love triangle, present but only annoying when it rarely flares up into passive-aggressive insults. This should not be merely a part of a story. There is some focus, but mostly, the structure(unlike the others, where the competition accomplished that) here does not work well for a movie. Not a lot really happens, and it certainly isn't as fast as we've gotten used to from these. They felt the need to add a few action scenes, and while they work and increase the scope, they are clearly "put in", and change little, if anything. The characters don't have enough to do, and we can tell there is something missing to their arc.
I recommend this to any fan of Young Adult fiction. There is a lot of mild violence and some disturbing content in this. 8/10