Movie Review - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 **** (out of 5) (PG-13) As a mild disclaimer to this high rating, consider that some sequels work well as stand-alone products; others fill in enough backstory for newcomers to catch up without much effort. This third installment of a four-part dystopian future epic absolutely exemplifies neither. If you haven’t seen the first two , and aren’t already salivating over the finale (now in post-production), skip to the next review. Dilettantes have no chance of enjoying this one without recalling the others, or having read the popular novels that spawned them.

Young, heroic Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is being urged to serve as the face of revolution for the oppressed Districts of Panem to rise up against their corrupt, vicious overlords in The Capitol. This film covers the movement’s early struggles against these tyrants with challenges more daunting than those facing the Jedi against The Empire, the current St. Louis Rams vs. The Greatest Show on Turf, or this U. S. Congress doing anything useful. These rebels get their movement started with a few successes, but they suffer much along the way, and are still in deep doo-doo when the credits start to roll. The Las Vegas odds against our heroes would likely be worse than those of Luke, Leia and the captured Han Solo against Lord Vader at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.

But for intrepid fans committed to the whole journey, the acting and f/x are all you’ve been hoping for. Most of the prior surviving characters return. That includes a certain bittersweet element of seeing the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final movie role as political advisor Plutarch Heavensbee. The film is longer on dialog and shorter on action than the first two, but there’s a lot of prep work needed to launch a grassroots revolt against such a superior force. The Capitol’s “one-percenters”, led by James Bond villainesque Donald Sutherland, use overwhelming military might, pervasive surveillance, mental and physical torture, economic domination, media manipulations, distortions and distractions to control a submissive, impoverished populace, while convincing them this is the only path to lasting peace.

Gee. Where do fiction writers find the inspiration for such wild concepts? (11/21/14)