By Bob Garver<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay \u2013 Part 1\u201d is probably going to be the biggest movie of 2014. The two previous \u201cHunger Games\u201d films have both made over $400 million at the domestic box office. \u201cMockingjay \u2013 Part 1\u201d can afford to make $90 million less than its predecessor \u201cCatching Fire\u201d and still make more money than this year\u2019s current leader, \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy,\u201d at $331 million. Yes, the \u201cHunger Games\u201d franchise seems unstoppable right now, except that \u201cMockingjay \u2013 Part 1,\u201d more than any competition, may be just the thing to stop it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The story once again follows Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) as she struggles to stay alive following her escape from the arena and her second Hunger Games in \u201cCatching Fire.\u201d Her survival does not sit well with the evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland), who sees her as a symbol of rebellion in the brutal continent of Panem (though her motives actually have to do more with self-preservation than big-picture upheaval). She\u2019s taken in by the \u201clost\u201d District 13, led by the frill-less President Coin (Julianne Moore), who wants to use Katniss to unite the other Districts in a rebellion against The Capitol and Snow. Katniss has no interest in being a military leader, even a symbolic one, but she is interested in the favors that the militarized District 13 can do for her, like rescuing her partner Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) from imprisonment in The Capitol. This strategy backfires for Katniss when Snow starts targeting her and her loved ones more than ever before, but clearly that response is going to backfire on Snow once Katniss decides to target him. This film deals mostly with the \u201chim targeting her\u201d part.<\/p>\n
And therein lies the problem with splitting the \u201cMockingjay\u201d book into two movies. I\u2019ve never read \u201cMockingjay,\u201d but I\u2019m guessing that things get worse before they get better, but they do get better. Here things just get worse. Katniss and the rest of Panem suffer devastating losses in this movie and Snow suffers a few mild inconveniences. Even a symbolic victory at the end is heavily tainted. I\u2019m not saying that good things necessarily have to happen to our heroes, but the movie lacks uplifting moments where I know uplifting moments ought to be.<\/p>\n
Cheer is very much missing from \u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay \u2013 Part 1.\u201d I miss the pomp and pageantry, the sickening luxury of The Capitol. Come to think of it, I miss The Hunger Games themselves. True, they were never organized or explained as well as they should have been, but at least it was fun to speculate on how long minor characters would last and how they would be eliminated. If the series is going to be called \u201cThe Hunger Games,\u201d I don\u2019t think it\u2019s unreasonable to expect each movie to feature a Hunger Games. Maybe Snow could recapture Katniss and put her back into the arena with twenty-three assassins with orders to take her out at the first opportunity. Or put her up against twenty-three impoverished peasants to show the rest of Panem how much compassion she really has for other people. I\u2019d take pretty much anything compared to this lame \u201cslowly picking away at The Capitol from District 13\u201d angle.<\/p>\n
There are just enough powerful moments in \u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay \u2013 Part 1\u201d to keep it from being truly terrible. Usually it involves heartfelt speeches from Katniss. I\u2019ll admit, there were a few times where I whispered to myself, \u201cThere\u2019s the Jennifer Lawrence that won the Oscar.\u201d But overall, this is a dreary, unpleasant movie. It isn\u2019t going to be remembered as anyone\u2019s favorite \u201cHunger Games\u201d installment, nor does it do an effective job of building anticipation for the grand finale a year from now. All is does is make me wonder even more how anybody can care at all about this numbingly bleak franchise.<\/p>\n
One and a Half Stars out of Five.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay \u2013 Part 1\u201d is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images and thematic material. Its running time is 123 minutes.<\/p>\n
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