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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

Posted by Jae Gibbs on 22nd Nov 2014

I love the Hunger Games. I’m a 30-something mostly straight female person in perpetual adolescence who likes to read and loves both sci-fi action films of the 80’s and strong female role-model princess fairy tales of the 90’s. I recently finished reading all 3 books by Suzanne Collins and I am a bona fide fan. I’ve never been a fan of adults reading children’s or “young adult” novels (such as the Harry Potter books or Twilight or anything remotely associated with either, unless of course they're reading it aloud to to children), but after seeing the first film and having a dozen friends recommend The Hunger Games to me, I thought I’d give them a shot. They are not my favorite books, but I like the world-building and the pacing, and the use of language to get across how a teenage girl might actually think or feel in these extreme circumstances was great. So, all that aside, what did I think of the movies?

Well, generally, I like them. Jennifer Lawrence is the kind of actor that comes along maybe once or twice in a generation and she can do anything and do it well. She may not look like Katniss from the books, but she can act circles around the skinny girls they might have otherwise chosen. Josh Hutcherson is also someone I have a lot of respect and admiration for, and I don’t like the amount of hate he or his character Peeta gets from rabid fan-girls. The first film is fine for what it is and it has it’s intense moments, but if you liked it you’ll love (and be terrified by) the book.

The second film was nothing short of genius to me. It was well-shot, suspenseful, introduced very well cast new supporting characters (Jenna Malone as Johanna, Sam Clafin as Finnick, Amanda Plummer and Jeffrey Wright as Wiress and Beetee, respectively, and of course Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch). It matched up to the book the most of the three so far, and it gave the characters all time to shine, including ones who weren’t as interesting or developed in the books. Now, on the “Mockingjay”, (Part One) and there may be some SPOILERS from here on in.

This is how both the book and the film start. In the book, Katniss goes on to state that she’s 17 years old (which always bothered me how compressed the timeline of the three books was. Less than two years?) which was dropped from the film. In fact, a whole lot was dropped from the film, including some of my favorite parts of the book. Instead of often dark humor and character development, we the audience are treated to very sanitized and unbelievable action sequences and tight close-ups of big name actors having panic attacks. And there is a lot of stated exposition and backstory which does nothing to help the flow of the narrative.

The establishing shots are good and raise the scope as a sequel should, and while it is worthwhile to see rebellion actually happening in the Districts, it could have been significantly cut down to improve pacing and emotional impact. The music played a large role in this film, even more so than in the first two. Unfortunately, the music was almost too good, often being more of a character than anyone other than Katniss, Plutarch, Coin or possibly Gale. I say possibly Gale because I just don’t like the Hemsworth Brothers, and while Chris “sexiest Man Alive” may have some redeeming value, Liam just shows up with absolutely no personality either way. The filmmakers gave Liam-as-Gale more speaking lines and tried to highlight his character development, but at the cost of all the secondary characters. 

Julianne Moore as President Coin and the late Phil Hoffman along with Jennifer Lawrence and the always dependable Woody Harrelson were too good for this movie. That is not to say the movie is not good, it is. But it isn’t great by any means. Coin in the books is supposed to be icy and unreadable, but Moore brings almost too much humanity to her just by being there. It also doesn’t help that they gave Moore a set of wacky yellow contact lenses that make her look like a cosplayer instead of looking like an eerie version of a real person with light brown eyes. Between her shoddy make-under and poor Donald Sutherland’s mustache-twirling villain of President Snow (he used to be subtle, right?), the suspension of disbelief is hard to grasp long enough to feel anything for the statistical nightmare of unnamed civilian rebels blowing up dams and fields and being shot by faceless Peacekeepers.

We get it, Hollywood! Young Adult dystopian novels are telling us that we live in a totalitarian oligarchy where interchangeable despots sacrifice the lower-class youths instead of their own children of privilege and placate us with bread and circuses. But there’s the whole problem with The Hunger Games, with the genre it is the crowning example of and with this movie: It’s entertainment. It’s the distraction, not the cure. These films show us unbelievable evil (without ever showing real-world results of atrocities, like blood) in order to convince us things aren’t so bad, and watching people rebel on the big screen does not incite us to rebel, but quenches our desire to do so as if we had. 

As an adaptation was just fine. But it could have been so much better; something more. “The Hunger Games” and to a larger extent, “Catching Fire” (the films and the books) allowed me to come away thinking for myself, wondering if I would have had the strength and courage to face the world those characters survived (or didn’t) and if I would have made the same choices (I wouldn’t, mostly). But “Mockingjay Part 1” left me feeling somewhat hollow. It’s not subtle. It’s not about big ideas. It’s a basic story about good vs. evil with the hint of some shades of gray to come. It has good moments (like PSH directing Jennifer Lawrence in a weird future “Truman Show”, any time Woody Harellson was on-screen) and some bad (The ending showing us what we already know and burying the real threat, any time Liam Hemsworth is on-screen), but the film is just good enough to leave me wanting more. It’s still better than most.

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