Right off the bat i'm not ashamed to admit that I thought the first two Hunger Games were pap.
Battle Royal was better. Battle Royal made you care about the characters even the bit characters, it did not spare the pain and savagery of the twisted battle to the death the young people found themselves in.
In contrast The Hunger Games was too safe, too clean and it was so obvious that the other guys were just in it to be hacked off whilst we are supposed to cheer for Katniss and Peeta to survive but, now, with Mockingjay - Part 1, for the first time the series seems to truly have stakes and gravitas. Let's dig in ...
Signs of growth in Mockingjay is seen in the performances and how the themes are handled. Jennifer Lawrence has it all; the moodiness, the vulnerability, the righteous indignation and the restraint - it's all there and never feels too much.
Donald Sutherland simmers with menace and Julian Moore is a tight lipped Julian Moore - yet it all comes together and it was great to see Margery from Game of Thrones in this one too.
Yet it is the story and themes that make Mockingjay - Part 1 the best Hunger Games film thus far. It's a lesson in why revolutions are waged and how revolutions are maintained through propaganda, how the group always consumes the individuals identity when it comes to revolution and war.
For the first time the series does not play it safe, although Snow and the cronies in the capital are the bad guys. You get a sense that even the good guys are not all so good. There's plenty of grey and i love it for that but above all, it shows one hard truth about life: revolutions come at a high price for both the individual and the group. Revolutions are not romantic ideal events but manipulative and calculated acts that come at great cost to those who take part in them and those who refuse.
I like how the film dealt with the propaganda war from both sides and it kinda reminded of our own struggle where popular songs would be changed to fit into whatever message the powers that be sanctioned, where the state and the anti-apartheid movement had their own propaganda wars. There are no white knights in revolutions, just those with a cause.
It also helps that the Hunger Games story builds towards something and takes its time to get us there. I'm eagerly awaiting Part 2, even though I feel its a very greedy move by the studios to split the films into two, but that's neither here nor there.
The final question though is, will the final Mockingjay movie be a damp squib like
Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows - Part 2, or a triumphant parade like
The Return of the Jedi or will it be much ado about nothing like the Twilight movies?
Only time will tell but Mockingjay - Part 1 does a great job of setting up all the chess pieces, shifting the tone of the series and giving us some real world context to reflect on. May the odds forever be on the side of Mockingjay 2.
Rating ***1/2
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index
* Junk **Almost bearable ***Now we cooking **** Almost perfect ***** Classic
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