Purely for Profit Unnecessary division of 3rd novel yields droning Part 1

Rating: 6/10 (5 December 2014)

Lionsgate chooses to break up the final film of the Hunger Games series, and in the process produces a rather droning Mockingjay Part 1.
The film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 starts where its predecessor ended. Panem is facing a revolt started by Katniss, Jennifer Lawrence, as set up at the end of Catching of Fire. In which previous victors of the games were once forced to fight for their lives knowing there would be but one left alive.
After being thrown into the Hunger Games for a second time when Katniss thought she was safe, and having seen her friends die and Peeta held hostage by the Capitol, she is traumatized. Kidnapped and taken by the rebels to District 13, she is once again thrust in the heart of the revolution that she helped to ignite as the symbolic face of the effort.
As far as adaptations go, The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 follows the story set forth by Suzanne Collins pretty accurately. Having split the final book of the trilogy into two parts allows the production company some freedom in faithfulness. Having read the books myself I know the third book is the odd narrative of the bunch, focusing more on revolutionary warfare than the cruel realities of the games.
While I understand a potential film would have been a behemoth in length had the book Mockingjay not been broken up into parts, it seems that not enough content is in Part 1. It drones on for the first 40minutes at District 13 while Katniss comes to grips with her role as the symbolic mockingjay when this transformation easily could have been abridged substantially. The increased time invested in showing the rebel effort allows a lull to occur by the one hour mark when viewers realize they still have an entire second half of the movie to endure.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is relatively well acted though monotonously toned in the emotions of their characters. None go through any sort of transformation or evolution and by the end of the film all are exactly as they started. Mockingjay Part 1 does divide the book at a very appropriate point, though the film should have ended three minutes earlier, and still leaves audiences excited for the much anticipated conclusion to the series with Mockingjay Part 2.
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