The Hunger Games: Mockingjay− Part 1 (2014)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 123 minutes
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Donald Sutherland, Nathalie Dormer, Sam Claflin, Robert Knepper, Jena Malone, Jena Malone
KRS releasing Ltd

In Catching Fire (2013), Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) had turned upside down the Hunger Games, presenting quite a challenge to the totalitarian government of the Capitol. Katniss was rescued and hidden away in the secret headquarters of District 13.

Here there is a growing group of protesters who are bent on bringing the Panem districts together to stand up to the Panem President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Katniss is seen to be The Mockingjay, the fiery bird which is come to be her emblem.

Katniss is also seen to be the uprising’s symbol, as District 13 President Coin (Julianne Moore) explains to her.

All this is planned and coordinated by Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who knows well the power of the media. Katniss is to be made a star of the uprising.

Meanwhile, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) for whom Katniss has feelings, is being held hostage by the Capitol and is transformed into President Snow’s puppet. He is being used in order to force Katniss to come down from her revolutionary stand.

Katniss, while participant in the revolutionary cause, seems to be more worried about Peeta than anything else. This is not something that Katniss’s friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) approves of.

The Hunger Games franchise is quietly and surely becoming one of the best sci-fi franchises of modern cinema. While this is a franchise that is first and foremost aimed at young adults, it is not above tackling hard themes and issues. It thus transcends this age group and becomes a movie that crosses age boundaries easily.

Suzanne Collins’s books have been well transposed on to the screen and with every cinema outing, the story and the characters seem to get more mature

The film mixes well messages of a future dystopia, human emotions, the powers of propaganda and the meaning of democracy.

In this adaptation of the third book by Suzanne Collins, the film immerses its audience in a very complete manner, adopting a first person point of view.

This places the audience neck deep into this world of intricate conspiracies and manipulation which makes this movie a very suitable build-up to next year’s final, climactic instalment.

Collins’s books have been well transposed on to the screen and with every cinema outing, the story and the characters seem to get more mature. The books have a vision of the future that is very easy to relate to since it’s not too far from concepts and reality we can grasp.

The film benefits from having the chiselled-like beauty and earnestness of Lawrence at its core. She dominates the screen and throughout this feature undergoes more character development.

Her performance is full of spark and flair. She is vulnerable, strong and sexy in a way that reminds me of how Jane Fonda used to dominate the screen. Meanwhile, Hutcherson’s character seems to have more resonance and feeling.

Sutherland as President Snow is suitably villainous, a real highlight, and it’s very easy to be sucked into his honey-spoken web.

The late Philip Seymour Hoffman, here in his second to last cinema performance, is sublime and very smooth as he cleanly fills his role and brings a certain level of inspiration.

This is a blockbuster that is careful not to overdo itself and it’s in this manner that it manages to present such gripping entertainment. This movie ends up being The Empire Strikes Back of the trilogy and leaves us all on edge. One will leave satisfied and wanting more and wanting more than ever to see the final movie.

It has all the foundation necessary for a perfect end to this very intelligent blockbuster that goes beyond the genre and the expectations laid upon it.