This weekend saw the release of the next movie in the Hunger Games series - Mockingjay part 1. Following on from Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen now needs to become the mockingjay in the war between Panem and the Capitol. With District 12 no more, she must gain the districts side however be careful as the Capitol have Peeta.
Honestly, this movie is disappointing. I absolutely love the series so far, I loved the first two movies, I love the books and just the general storyline, however this movie definitely did not need to be made into two parts. It's definitely Hollywood cashing in on the franchise before the final movie, and they have done as people who have seen the first two movies and read the books will want to go see the next. So, well done Hollywood but this movie could have easily been made into 45 minutes of a 2 hour 30 minute big finale.
Instead, what we have is 2 hours of mainly talking and filler. There is no major plot, no major twists or action and not even a lot of things going on. It's really disappointing because I really, really enjoyed Catching Fire but this movie is the worst of the three so far.
However, onto some good points! As always, I really liked the acting. Jennifer Lawrence captures Katniss perfectly and definitely gives her more than what you read from the books. It was sad seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman, but he was excellent aswell, I liked that there was more from Gale as before I felt he didn't really have a lot and you just felt sorry for him. I think Julianne Moore was a great choice for President Coin and definitely plays it well, with almost a darker side to her which hasn't came out yet. Elizabeth Banks is great as Effie yet again and I'm really glad they kept her on, as I missed her in the last book.
If things were done differently, I would have liked to have seen more of the daily life in District 13, just to show non book readers the schedule and more of the rules that go on. I really like the scenes where you see the different districts doing things to rebel, and sometimes wished you saw more of that.
Overall, it was just "meh". It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best. I'm definitely still looking forward to the finale, however I'd say maybe wait till this one is on DVD before the big end.
★★★☆☆
Have you seen Mockingjay Part 1? What did you think?
