“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” started the unfortunate trend of major film franchises splitting tentpole books into two separate films. Though it may be a cash grab, that seventh Harry Potter film is actually one of the most distinct in the series. Six movies of being tied down to Hogwarts and Quidditch, the seventh film took the main characters out of a familiar world, threw them in the forest against insurmountable odds and allowed them to act. They grew up into adults and the whole franchise matured overnight. It’s the most unusual Potter film, yet also David Yates’s best.
The previous “Hunger Games” movie “Catching Fire” was the blockbuster everyone needed after Potter. It was dark, inventive and upped the stakes on the previous film, not an easy task when you consider the first film was about teenagers murdering each other for sport and survival. But it also ended in such a way that “Mockingjay – Part 1” could hardly repeat the successes of the second. Katniss had been thrown into the rebellion, separated from her love and Hunger Games partner Peeta and asked to serve as a symbol she never wanted to be.
“Mockingjay” was poised to rewrite the franchise, but Francis Lawrence’s opportunity to make “Part 1” into something more than a cash grab has been squandered. It’s the most unusual “Hunger Games” yet, but hardly for the better. The fantasy, the color, the intrigue and the creativity has all been sapped from this sequel to make a frustrating half of a movie, one that’s talky, filled with exposition and set pieces that hardly resemble what made either of the first two films memorable.
Much of this could have to do with the source material. Hiding out in a fortress in the old District 13, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is holed up with her family and one third of her love triangle Gale (Liam Hemsworth), but she’s been separated from her best form of chemistry, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). The Capitol and President Snow (Donald Sutherland) are using Peeta as a propaganda tool to convince the masses that all is well in the Districts. But Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman in what will be his last role) and the rebellion leader Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) wish to use Katniss in the same way to rally the troops of the rebellion.
Is this really the stuff of drama and excitement? Is an interview between Peeta and Stanley Tucci’s campy Matt Lauer really the greatest moment of conflict and importance this film can offer? “Mockingjay” spends more time in the boardroom having Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) discuss Katniss’s greatest hits than actually giving us new ones.
If the new character additions here were interesting, it might’ve made a difference, but they in fact take away from the already established favorites. The affable Effie (Elizabeth Banks) is given a reduced, un-frilly and un-colorful bit part. The sharp-tongued Johanna (Jena Malone) has been erased completely, and the hunky Finnick (Sam Claflin) has lost all his charm. Only Gale is actually given more to do, but then he’s been the source of all the franchise’s questionable YA romance in the first place.
“Mockingjay – Part 1” is not without action or intrigue, but anyone familiar with this franchise should raise an eyebrow at what this series has come to. The big finale involves Gale and a band of rebels raiding a compound to rescue Peeta. Katniss is sidelined, watching the action from Mission Control. As the group storms the castle, with machine guns drawn, smoke bombs blazing and night vision engaged, you wonder if this is “The Hunger Games” or “Zero Dark Thirty.”
If “Mockingjay – Part 1” is what passes for the blockbuster event of the year, then something has gone wrong. All the pieces are here for yet another great franchise sequel, and Francis Lawrence and company have turned the whole affair into something much more puzzling.
2 stars
Plenty of build up, but has an ending so abrupt, that I wondered if my cinema’s camera got knocked out. Good review.