The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1 (directed by Francis Lawrence) is the third part of The Hunger Games –trilogy. The film is based on the novel Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.
I had also read the novels and, to be honest, at first I found it a bit odd, that the third part would be released in two parts. It almost seemed like that the producers were only thinking about the money.
The plot simplified is that Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) struggles with the question, wheather she should be the Mockingjay –the symbol of a rebellion- or not. She understands that if she stood for rebels, the President Snow (Donald Sutherland) would hurt her loved ones. This dilemma is the main theme of the film: is it right to reject the person you love for the common good?
In my opinion the film was suprisingly violent and rough. There wasn’t lack of big booms and special effects in the film. For sure that did the trick in the movie teather, but I’m not so sure how it works in small televisions for example. There were also lots of bones, wars and dead human bodies in the movie. That was weird for the film, which is almost phenomenon among lots of teenagers. The love triangle between the main characters Katniss, Peeta (Josh Hucherson) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) received less attention in this part of the trilogy.
I was pretty satisfied with the acting of the leading stars. Especially Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hucherson managed to make their characters seem like they were about to go out of control.
The soundtrack of the Mockingjay part 1 was really good. Actually, the scene, were Katniss sang The Hanging Three –song, was the best part of the movie. The melody of the song was simple, and even a bit out of tune. It starts only Jennifer Lawrence singing the melody, but then a huge choir will join singing. Same time in the big screen a crowd of rebels marches towards the viewer. I think that was spectacular. I also found myself humming the song various times after waching the film.
To conclude, I think that Mockingjay part 1 had some good and touching scenes, along with the various effects and war parts. On the other hand, I’m still not convinced, why they wouldn’t have fitted with the rest of the scenes (that will be released in part two) into a one good movie.