Yes, it is yet another in a long line of Young Adult fiction turned into a mega-blockbusters to entertain mostly pre-teens.
However, it’s actually not that bad...
This is the third in the series and already the first two films have earned over $1.5 Billion worldwide. So naturally, what do you do when you have such a successful franchise? Milk it for everything it is worth by splitting the final part in two and essentially get people to pay twice for seeing one film. Harry Potter did it, Twilight has done it, Peter Jackson is just taking the piss by adapting a 300 page story into three films so why not do it here as well?
Mockingjay Part 1 sees our hero, Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence), recovering from the events of Catching Fire in the underground bunkers of District 13. Whilst here Presidents and publicists attempt to use her as a pawn in their propaganda programs against the Capital’s evil leader President Snow (played by Jack Bauer’s Dad Donald Sutherland). Unfortunately for Katniss, President Snow is using her Reality Television “lover” Peeta (aka the most useless person ever to have on your side when you are fighting other teenagers in a battle to the death for the televised amusement of the public - see previous two films for more details) as a tool for propaganda as well.
As a film based on a Young Adult novel it is leaps and bounds above Twilight and isn’t bogged down by all the unnecessarily complicated rules of The Divergent series and that is probably where this series finds it’s greatest strength: the hyper-real representation of things that happen in our society. The first two films focused heavily on how far “reality television” could go if not kept under control, whilst Mockingjay focuses on the structure and thought-process behind propaganda. This is often spelt out to the audience through the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman (for whom the film is dedicated to) and rising star Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell from Game of Thrones and the future Captain Marvel - I’m calling this one early).
Visually the film uses a lot of hand-held footage and at times, the special effects look a little too obvious, however it is some of the other visual choices that I find most interesting. In particular, I don’t know if this was deliberate or by accident, but Director Francis Lawrence has filmed the underground bunkers of District 13 to have the look and feel of Fritz Lang’s Sci-Fi classic Metropolis complete with thousands of extras in grey suits walking and moving in unison.
Overall, this film does leave you with a sense that you have been constantly teased. With the exception of one action scene in the middle of the film often a lot of the actual action happens off-screen with moments building to something and then cutting to a bunch of people sitting in a room reacting to something we can’t see. Having not read the books and not knowing what is supposed to happen in Part 2 it is hard to tell if splitting the film in two was necessary beyond the milking the proverbial cash-cow. Thankfully, strong performances from Lawrence, Hoffman, Moore, even Hemsworth and a completely underused Woody Harrelson do at least make you feel that you are not being completely ripped off by paying for only half a movie.
Three and a half volunteers of tribute out of five.
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