Mockingjay: Part 1 Surpasses Expectations

by Madeline Hamer

The fire in Hunger Games hasn’t been extinguished just yet. “Mockingjay: Part 1,” the third movie of the Hunger Games trilogy, strayed away from the similar basic layout of the first two movies which focused on fighting in the arena. Instead, it focuses on a whole new plot of the fight between the capitol and the rebels in the districts. It shows a deeper look into the corruption of the society and finally works towards stopping the barbarism of the government.

The genre of this movie is drama, action & adventure, science fiction & fantasy. Josh Hutcherson returns as Peeta and Liam Henderson returns as Gale, both did an outstanding job. Jennifer Lawrence returns as Katniss however this was not my favorite of her performances.

Many viewers disagree with my high awknowledgments as shown by Rotten Tomatoes.com with the first movie Hunger games has an 84% rating, “Catching Fire” has the highest with an 89% rating, and “Mockingjay: part 1” has a 65% rating. Although Mockingjay was my least favorite book due to its sometimes boring moments, “Mockingjay: Part 1” has been my favorite Hunger Games movie so far because it exhibits passion and everything that has happened thus far in the first two movies gets connected to show a powerful fight for justice

Flaws of The Hunger Games

by Morgan Broadus

While The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 was in essence, a fairly decent movie, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed after viewing the production. Generally, I enjoy The Hunger Games series; each book has different plots and twists that is brought to life through these movies. Having read all the books and watched all the movies approximately a total of 20 times, I certainly held the third movie to a higher standing than the former. And while I watched it twice in the theater, I soon realized that once was probably enough.

To start off, the movie opens up in the midst of a panic attack from the main character, Katniss Everdeen. It continues into a huge chaotic plot of a movie, differing from the preconceived idea I previously imagined. In all honesty, if I didn’t read the books or watch the past productions, I wouldn’t know what was happening. So unless you are up to speed on the series, viewing Mockingjay may prove to be a bit confusing and not worthy of your time.

In addition, while Katniss’ acting (Jennifer Lawrence) was absolutely killer, most of the supporting actors seemed to be questionable. An abundance of new characters were introduced, all of which were in the book, but some continuing roles such as Johanna Mason’s (Jena Malone) came across as somewhat pointless. The captives were shown a total of three times on screen, which didn’t seem to affect the movie in any way.

Another part about Mockingjay that has caused a significant amount of controversy was how the book, written by Suzanne Collins, was broken into two separate movies. It seems as Hollywood is attempting to draw out the popular series in order to make a bigger profit, lengthening Part 1 so they could have one final moneymaking-hurrah. Although, I do enjoy the series, and while having one more movie is something to look forward to, it still seemed rather unnecessary from my point of view.

Overall, while the recently released The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 contained decent acting and an uplifting sense of community amongst the characters, it still seems as if it was lacking that spark that all fans were hopeful for. Perhaps the final movie will satisfy viewers’ expectations, because after this movie, the next has a much higher standard to fulfill.