follows the book quite well - if you liked that, you'll like this, or...

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2014)

... If you haven't read the book, but keep up with the series, Mockingjay part 1 - the first half of an adaptation of the third book in the Hunger Games series - it still works. Or it did for me. One of the main things is that it takes its story from the book, and it gives some time to breath for the characters. You get to see how this develops - how Katniss is poised to become this symbol/figure of the revolution for all the other districts, how she's molded (at first unsuccessfully, then majorly) as a figure for the people through what is another "reality" show, only this time more on the side of propaganda - and you don't have to rush through it, it's laid out piece by piece, you get a sense of this District 13, the other districts rebellions, and so on.
So, first things first, it's its own movie. It's not simply easily dismissible as a 'it's only HALF a movie' sort of thing. Also, the acting is still top-notch for what this material asks for. Lawrence is still incredible as Katniss, having to express more the PTSD that her character has by this point going through two hunger games; Hoffman, in one of his last performances (part 2 of Mockingjay will be the last) strikes a jolly-calm-stern balance throughout his work here as the progandist; newcomer Julianne Moore maybe has the toughest role to play - and she is a lot colder in the book for those who have read it and know - but carries herself strongly in her scenes, aided by gray hair; more surprising is Liam Hemsworth, who I thought was weaker in the previous films, kind of like window dressing. Here, he has to if not carry scenes be more of a firmer presence, like when they return to District 12, or scenes between him and Katniss. He's gotten better.
What I liked here is the mix of the 'Media Image', on both the sides of District 13 and the malevolent President Snow with his interviews staged with prisoner Peeta (some of the make-up as he gets weaker is a bit cheesy), and how this is set in the backdrop of this revolution. How much people want change? Well, enough to storm a dam or fight back by going high into trees for a couple of things (these are things we at best hear about in the book but don't see, one benefit of film vs the book in terms of point of view). But best of all I like how director Lawrence paints a relentlessly grim picture, and it's never entirely dour. Nor does it have to be super action-packed; this might deter some audiences who just want the blood and carnage of the Games of the previous films. And to be fair Catching Fire did improve upon it.
But unlike something, say, Harry Potter 7 part 1, there's not a lot of aimless wandering around or pondering. Things keep moving, the story keeps going, Katniss' progression as a kind of 'icon' that she naturally becomes through her anger and persistence (and of her handlers), not to mention the bit-by-bit rising of the other districts, it makes for a dynamic film that is really about politics as much as anything else. So that by the time Snow and Katniss have their brief face-off through a video screen, the intensity is white-hot. This is a smart, brawny blockbuster that is not exactly, you know, a ball of laughs, but for what it presents as another in a line of thrillers, it's different and has enough of a satiric edge amid its epic qualities to make it stand out from, say, the Divergent series.