Cash-grab, nevertheless.....

Rating: Null/10 (2 December 2014)

Well. I'm not sure how to review this, since it is incomplete. On purpose too. Just like they did it unnecessarily with 'Breaking dawn' (I know, barf), and since that model proved successful for Lionsgate, they've decided and done the same here. Something that would've made a powerful movie, 3 hours long, has been split into 2, around 2 hours each. While I do grant that this approach allows the characters to breathe, unfortunately, there isn't much material here to justify the split.
Anyway, the rants can go on, but key decisions have been made, and the movie exists in this form, so there.
The bold decision (by the author, not by the makers) was calling the series 'Hunger games' still, though the games ended with the last Quarter Quell that had some very unforeseeable (for us) consequences, that have brought the unrest between the Capitol and the districts into full-on war mode, in spite of all efforts by the Capitol to control the flow of information with all of their in- your-face propaganda (a not-so-clever metaphor for how all media is controlled by the real- world economies).
We have to appreciate the aspect of the author preferring to focus on all the politicking that goes on in this context, and keeping us away from most of the action going on in the background (what the movie does, esp. this first part of the 3rd book, is something else entirely) and instead focusing on how our leads are exploited in the bargain, no quarters given.
Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman (sadly no more) and JenLaw are all fantastic in their roles, and the casting director should be complimented. Donald Sutherland, at his age, is playing one of the most chillingly evil villains of all time, whilst being topical and relevant to us audiences as well, and once again, this is a job well done by casting, as well as the performer.
Who absolutely stands out from everyone else, in spite of them being acting powerhouses, is Josh Hutcherson, who has undergone a transformation as chilling as the one Christian Bale underwent for 'The Machinist' (or even 'American Hustle'). He perhaps has the most difficult role of all, since this is a narrative with characters playing out deceptions-within-deceptions without the crutch of non- realistic scenarios, and his presence is almost more powerful than Sutherland's.
There are a few instances where the makers show us snippets of what's going on outside of D13, and those sequences seem shoehorned in, but, from a narrative perspective, this movie holds together much, much better than most PG13 examples of YA novels being brought to life these days (think, 'Divergent', 'Maze runner' and the like).
And remember the debt all these authors and film-makers HAVE TO pay to both 'Battle Royale' and 'Lord of the flies'. Unfathomable indeed, in spite of the fact that they seem to have done well in terms of quality, while not exactly treading new(er) ground.
I'll still have to reserve my opinion until I see Part 2, but it makes sense that this one is a good quality addition in the series, as good as the 2nd one was (and that IS weird, since Gary Ross, who directed the first one, is more solid a film-maker than his successor, Francis Lawrence, who has nicely carved himself a niche-kinda position within the context or confines of this series).
The technical aspects, as in the 2nd one (the first one was not as polished, IMO, though that might have been on purpose) are all top- notch, and I'm looking forward to how the sequences have been captured in the one coming next.
All in all, I felt unlucky that this could could not be watched on IMAX, and would have loved to do that. Splitting this one might be costing the team 1/more Oscars as well, but they do get paid, and what's an Oscar worth, in any case, eh?