Reviews & Ratings for
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)

It was exactly what I expected essentially. First of all, after reading the book, yes, a lot happens in the third installment, but it does not need to be split up into two movies. They could cut out a lot of the slow parts in the book and easily condense it into one movie. However, since this is clearly just a money making technique, they reserve Part 1 simply for killing time and setting up the action that will come in Part 2. This movie consisted solely of Katniss running around depressed and confused in District 13, struggling with her inner conflict of whether or not to accept her role as the Mockingjay, all the while worrying about the safety of her lover Peeta, a romance that after dragging the movies out over 2 years, is pretty dead and lacks chemistry in my opinion. I think that Jennifer Lawrence is an excellent actress, but it is often very difficult to show Katniss's emotional side in the movies due to the fact that the audience is not nearly as "inside her head" as the first person perspective delivers in the books. Honestly, she just comes off as a mopey hard a**, and gets less and less likable and emotion evoking with each movie.
Like I said, it was good, kept me entertained, but I would probably wait, save the money, and just rent it if you want to see it. Just like Harry Potter 7: Part 1, it's really nothing special and just sets the scene for Part 2. If you've been following this series strictly through the movies, it'll probably do more for you than if you've read the books and already know what's coming.

The last two films proved to be better than your average post-Potter fare, with fantastic characterisation, strong subject matter and writing that could only get better when they picked up Michael Arndt as a one-timer. Problem is, some trilogies just have to stay trilogies. Shorten the final story down to just one film and this would be one hell of an exciting trilogy.

Then again, are trilogies besides the obvious even possible in this dark age of Hollywood? Here's looking at you, John Lasseter...