The movie industry is, first and foremost, about making as much money as possible. That doesn't mean profit always trumps quality though. Let's say a movie was adapted from a novel or a comic book, a certain level of faithfulness to the original material is paramount. I had no qualms with a movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins' THE HUNGER GAMES. It's good fiction and the trilogy format is money for everybody involved. The production decided to go down Harry Potter Road though and split the last volume in two movie, which screamed of unchecked corporate greed to me. If anybody could pull it off though, it was the great Katniss Everdeen, so I had to give her a fair shot.
The events of THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 1 pick up a couple weeks after Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) shot an arrow through The Hunger Games: All-Stars' dome and got the show closed before a winner could be crowned *. The rebels are hiding her in District 13 and their leader President Coin (Julianne Moore) plans to make her the Mockingjay, their symbol. But Katniss is more than just a beautiful face. She seduced the people of the fallen America of Panem by killing people for the right reasons ** and for getting her boy Peeta (Josh Hutcheson) out of trouble, so she'll do things her own way. That includes getting a piece of the action...and bailing Peeta out again.
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 1 is different from the first two volumes of the series, because there are no Hunger Games per se, in it. The sadistic Olympic games of teenage survival designed by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) have turned into a full-blown civil war, thanks to Katniss and her arrows, inspiring people to rebellion.
So, it places her in an interesting mindframe. It's not just about survival anymore, for Katniss. She's torn apart because the weight of the civil war is on her shoulders, and that the only difference between the inhuman ruling of President Snow and an even worse ruling of President snow is her, because she gives the people of Panem the courage to rebel. Now, call me crazy but I think that once again, this is terrific character development from Suzanne Collins. The psychological transformation Katniss is undergoing on THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 1 almost justifies cutting it in two parts on its own.
So, it places her in an interesting mindframe. It's not just about survival anymore, for Katniss. She's torn apart because the weight of the civil war is on her shoulders, and that the only difference between the inhuman ruling of President Snow and an even worse ruling of President snow is her, because she gives the people of Panem the courage to rebel. Now, call me crazy but I think that once again, this is terrific character development from Suzanne Collins. The psychological transformation Katniss is undergoing on THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 1 almost justifies cutting it in two parts on its own.
Another standout performance by Jennifer Lawrence, who would've thought?
The main battle here is: why this movie should even exist? Why couldn't it be just a three hours extravaganza of dystopian civil war? Without spoiling anything, I have to tell you that it's the second time in three movies that The Hunger Games franchise, ends with an odd cliffhanger. It's like a song ending with a minor chord, it doesn't feel right. That kind of practice is common with television series, but in movies where you have to wait a whole freakin' year in order to know what's going to happen, it's unsatisfying. I know it's a technical issue more than a narrative one, but I thought it was worth pointing out. It doesn't invalidate the movie in itself, but it is starting to come off as an annoying gimmick.
As the annoying trend of "meaningful" young adult fiction starts fading into the cool night air, Suzanne Collins' THE HUNGER GAMES is withstanding the test of time as just a very effective dystopian coming-of-age, and the terrific movie adaptation is no doubt helping its legacy. That also will end in 2015, and let's hope that both Suzanne Collins and the movies' production company will be smart enough to let that one walk into the sunset. It's good, they haven't messed it up yet. They could close it at the end of the year and have created just a terrific dystopian series with mass appeal. THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 1 is another successful addition to the series, one that you'd want to see right now if you've seen the first two films. In fact, this would make for a terrific binge watching day before seeing the final movie in theaters.
* I guess you have to watch the first two movies to understand why any of this actually matters. Please do, they're good.
** That's...oddly American, don't you think?