The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

Worse than the second film. Verbose, with very little action, and unnecessarily political. And there was all this fuss about it, even the new song by Lorde turned out to be unnecessary. It is incomprehensible how Jennifer Lawrence, compared to the excellently coherent and well-paced second installment, stumbled so badly and made a typically arrogant and tearful Hollywood shlock that lacks all the ingredients that made the second film a better one. A leap back to mediocrity with one single inventive moment – the chimney falling on the building. (12/07/2014)

It's not smarter than the previous parts in the series, just more talkative. It's not even fun. The story has disappeared, and the development of Katniss and Peeta's relationship, which held the first and second parts above water, is sidelined. I've never been a fan of Panem's world, and I really don't have anything to lean on here. Overall impression: 25%. It seems to me that the whole series mentally corresponds to the world of 12-16-year-old teenagers, and it is questionable whether this stretched filler can satisfy them... (01/31/2022)

The first Mockingjay is one of the most typical blockbusters in the history of Hollywood. The second most commercially successful film in the Unites States in 2014 and the fifth in the given year in worldwide box-office revenues is completely devoid of money shots, epic scenes and bombastic action sequences. Its two-hour runtime predominantly comprises dialogue scenes, as most of the film takes place in an underground bunker and all of the characters wear baggy coveralls. Here the filmmakers can afford to do what would be commercial suicide anywhere else thanks to the fact that this is a feature-length exposition for the climax, which will come in the second film. The knowledge that, thanks to its title, the film will automatically be a hit regardless of what happens in it gave rise to the film saga’s crucial episode. Instead of a seasonal spectacle, we have here a film that appeals exclusively to adolescent audiences, but instead of the formulaicness and superficiality that is associated with this target group on the part of overly clever old people and pragmatic producers, it relates a narrative from an Orwellian grey world that uncovers deceit and media manipulation, showing the heroine fumbling her way between her own interests and the intentions of others, while offering no resolution of the conflicts that have arisen. (06/26/2016)

Both the The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire were, in terms of adaptation for young adults, fantastic and perfectly escalating, but for me they simply couldn't match the quality of the source material. Although in the case of the latter, it was a close call. It is precisely because of this that I was more afraid of them splitting the finale, as its political intrigues and gradual war tactics were by far the weakest (and yet quite numerous) passages in the book. But fate and the producers presented the established creative team with two newcomers, the screenwriting duo of Danny Strong and Peter Craig. It's hard to say how these two came together and what led them to The Hunger Games, but it was a decision that definitively shifts the entire saga into self-sufficient territory. With enough time and emotions, all of which hit the right marks thanks to Jennifer Lawrence's unwavering and, on the contrary, growing acting talents. From the first The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, a constantly suspenseful spectacle has emerged, which despite its apparent aimlessness never loses momentum for a moment, and it offers its share of unforgettable moments (Katniss's song, the rose, the final twist). Now Lawrence and company have nothing to prove, because they handled the most critical moment with shocking finesse and have in front of them the even more treacherous task of adapting the pure gold that is the second half. And yes, I am just as anxious as I am excited. (11/23/2014)

I'd probably be repeating myself if I said that splitting last parts into two or more episodes is more detrimental to the film itself, and the only upside is the producers' and distributors' pockets are more lined. The same is true of the first episode of the third part of Hunger Games installment. All things considered, nothing much happens. While there are a lot of action scenes, it all feels kind of incomplete. Personally, I liked the third book the least, so I wasn't expecting anything special. In short, I would love to punch the face of whoever came up with the idea of splitting “Mockingjay” into two movies (the last Harry Potter at least had a lot to draw from, but with HG, the books aren't that extensive). (12/25/2014)