Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Confined to District 13, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is struggling with the devastating climactic events of the previous film that saw her home bombed and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) basically left for dead. She is persuaded by rebellion leader Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and her advisor Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to feature in propaganda pieces as a symbol, the Mockingjay to unite the people behind the rebellion and against the dictatorial President Snow (Donald Sutherland). When Katniss proves somewhat resistant and stiff, she is shown something that brings the horror all-too close to home for her. Thus a fight for the will of the people is waged, as Peeta turns up on government TV with Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) to try and dissuade the people from taking up arms, shocking Katniss. Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth, and Jeffrey Wright all reprise their roles, with Natalie Dormer turning up as the person shooting Katniss’ propaganda pieces.

 

Although a fair way from being a good film, this is the mild best of the “Hunger Games” films thus far. Directed once again by Francis Lawrence (who directed the previous “Hunger Games: Catching Fire”, as well as mediocre films “I Am Legend” and “Constantine”), this 2014 sequel improves over “Catching Fire” (which was much better than the first film) by not just limiting the amount of time devoted to the tedious games themselves but by not featuring any Hunger Games at all. It’s also not as boring or eye-rollingly stupid as the first film, and Katniss proves a tad less miserable and bitchy in this one which definitely helps (though Jennifer Lawrence looks here like she’s about ready to leave this franchise ASAP). That said, I actually found the characters played by Julianne Moore (who is actually terrific) and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman to be far more sympathetic and unselfish than Katniss, which I really don’t think was the intention. Katniss still spends the early portion of the film not thinking about the greater good or about anyone beyond her inner circle, and it does grate somewhat until she starts to wise up and realise the gravity and enormity of the situation she’s actually in. I don’t know if Lawrence is simply far too old for the role or not (I’m assuming Katniss is meant to be in her 20s or so?), but Katniss seems far too old to have such a petulant, selfish attitude.

 

On the downside of things, although overall far more stably shot by Jo Willems (who also shot “Catching Fire”), the night scenes are way too dark and murky. Meanwhile, the film needed a whole lot more Woody Harrelson, who is the series’ most interesting and entertaining character. He’s brilliant here, but not in the film enough to move the needle a whole helluva lot. The late Hoffman (who died with one week of filming left) might play a somewhat interesting character, but he looks distressingly bored here, whilst Donald Sutherland couldn’t phone in his performance any more even if he tried (See what I did there?). He’s a dishearteningly generic villain, but perhaps the text is no help. If you want a proper send-off for Hoffman, you’re better off watching “A Most Wanted Man” or “God’s Pocket” than something like this, which didn’t get a whole lot of use or effort out of the talented actor. I did, however finally begin to enjoy Elizabeth Banks in this, now that her silly character (and performance) has been stripped of most of its artifice and affectedness. There’s a real human being (and a sadness) inside the character of Effie, but it’s taken a long while to get to it. Aussie Liam Hemsworth, meanwhile, finally has his character written into the series after basically sitting on the sidelines twiddling his thumbs for two films. Josh Hutcherson is still an appallingly tedious actor, but his character finally undergoes some interesting developments in this one. Unfortunately, there’s still the idiocy of Stanley Tucci to contend with, a real embarrassment for an otherwise terrific actor.

 

The story this time out is certainly very clichéd, but I’ll give it this: it’s not boring, even if I find the social/political commentary awfully hokey. The complete absence of tedious Hunger Games in this sequel earns the film a slightly higher rating than the previous “Catching Fire”. We’re not talking about good filmmaking here (merely passable at best), but at this rate “Pt. 2” does indeed have a shot at getting there. A long shot, mind you. Based on an adaptation by author Suzanne Collins herself, the screenplay is by Peter Craig (“The Town”) and Danny Strong (“Game Change”, “The Butler”, and an actor on TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”). Hey, at least they’re not ripping of “Battle Royale” this time…this one’s closer to “Battle Royale: Requiem”. In fact, it’s better than “Battle Royale: Requiem”, which was a tedious disappointment (Not that it really matters, they’re all derived from “Most Dangerous Game” anyway).

Rating: C+