The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)

How sad is this?

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie starts off kind if slow and boring with you not really knowing what's going on. It takes its time explaining the situation at hand, and eventually gets down to it about half hour onto the movie, Peeta's is gone but is going psychotic. Katniss is depressed but wants to help, so the good and bad guys start blackmailing each other. In the end they leave you wondering what will happen next which I suppose is the point.

In general, the drama part of the story is the movie. It is off by the action. Again new characters were included. The film is not able to spend permanent staff. The song "The Hanging Tree" was very beautiful. Also the sarcastic bird melody is already perfect. It was a troubled film that could have been nice.

Fantastic film. Brilliant addition to the series even as part 1 of 2. Mockingjay has dispensed with the killing games of the 1st two instalments in favour of war, political power plays and the beginnings of a rebellion. There is also an underlying theme highlighting the power of the media and it's influence in such matters. This one is intense and really packs an emotional punch - aided by some excellent direction and some great acting from the lead players. It is sad to have the knowledge that we have now lost a talent like P.S. Hoffman - his Plutarch is a wonderful exercise in subtlety and intellectual prowess. An interesting match against the power of the capital, with it's abundant troop numbers and heavy firepower. He is a gifted strategist and the one who seems to really know what is going on. Jennifer Lawrence is excellent once again as Katniss. It is clearer now (than in the 1st two films) why she had been picked for this as she really makes you believe the up and downs of this difficult journey, and you are with her for every step. Some of the heart wrenching scenes/speeches (one early one in particular) may have fallen flat in the hands of another actress. I found myself completely engrossed for the entirety of this film, not wanting to take my eyes off the screen for any of it. As I said previously, this is heavy on the emotion and it rarely lets up. Even with little knowledge of the intricacies of the back story and history of Panem, you are wholeheartedly behind the rebellion and you so fervently despise the man behind the suffering. Sutherland hasn't had much screen time in any of these films but credit to him to still make you loathe the Snow character and his relaxed attitude to the genocide of entire cities of people. It's a pity that this film had to be split in 2. It's annoying to have to wait so long for a conclusion. I am deducting a star purely because it feels unfinished. However, considering this is based on fiction for young adults...it still hits hard and will stay with me for a while.

The Hunger Games movies have been amazing till now. The characters, the action and the sets breathtaking. But the only problem is that they don't match the level of the books. The book explains everything in details. I believe one can never actually understand and feel the story from the movie like from the book. The book is pooling with action all over and yet quick and interesting. There are movie franchises like Twilight that do better than books but The Hunger games movies are not that. There is a lot of scope of improvement ant entertainment. This movie seems like a sluggish attempt at picturing half the book. I wouldn't even give it 6 stars if I had watched the movie without reading the book. It wouldn't engage and hook me. All the while I was comparing the movie with the books. And I realized the book was so much better. So if anyone finds the plot of Hunger Games interesting, he'she should give the books a shot. But if you can't read the books, the movies aren't that bad either.