The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 - Movie Review

So far, so OK. The Hunger Games series has never really done anything for me, although never "bad", I have never found a real appreciation for them. Is this the film to win me over?

Kind of. Well, yes and no. Although the film does suffer from being split into two parts, what surprised was how much this film evolved compared to the other two.

Peeta?

The film now mostly focuses on the propaganda war between the two sides. And to be honest its really quite good, watching how each side controls and manipulates the media is really good fun and is entertaining. Its just let down by the fact that there isn't enough of it. The film also seem to be missing an aspect a more grown up film would cover and that's the moral ambiguity of the good guys. The film never shows them as anything else but good and its just means its a lot less interesting than it could have been. So, the basic story is pretty good overall.

It also looks pretty slick too, the dystopian future is really well crafted using a lot of well placed iconography and cultural themes, although its annoying its missing some of the visual flair found in the Trailers and marketing. The acting overall is also pretty solid, with some good performance throughout, Josh Hutcherson & Elizabeth Banks are probably the stand outs. Although i'm still not sold on the talents of Jennifer Lawrence, again to me she either looks really bored or she just seems to be overacting and I never really find it convincing.

What is an annoyance though is the films score, it often enters quite loudly and seems to be trying really hard to illicit an emotion and fails. I found it very agitating and distracting in certain places. The use of the much touted song "The Hanging Tree"(although a song I like), was also very badly done. It came across as very cheesy and melodramatic, which is a shame due to the quality of the song.

Where is Peeta?

My number one issue is the main characters, I just don't care. There dialogue is badly written and are often way too over dramatic. This is where the film falls down compared to the previous films. The characters have just seem to have lost any believability and they just seem to get in the way of the bigger and more interesting story being told. Although it does end in an interesting place and I'm looking forward to seeing how that one story thread pans out.

Overall, The film does feel like a step up, its themes and idea's about the use of propaganda seem bold and refreshing. Too bad its centered around a main cast I just don't care for and seems to be trying a bit too hard to be emotional.

Rating: 6/10