Director Francis Lawrence knows how to eke out a story in a tantalising way.

Director: Francis Lawrence

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Natalie Dormer, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, Jena Malone

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 123 mins

The games may be over in The Capitol, but only for now, as the real battle has only just begun in Suzanne Collins’s bestselling Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay – Part 1, the first of two films adapted from the book.

Jennifer Lawrence reprises her role as 17-year-old Katniss Everdeen, the latest winner of the Hunger Games – a horrific event where teenagers from different districts in Panem are made to fight against each other until the death and until there is only one person left standing, or barely just, in a brutal television show.

At the end of the second instalment of the franchise, the young heroine has been rescued and pulled out of The Capitol after defying the totalitarian rules of Panem. She suddenly finds herself in hiding in District 13 with a rebel group who want to take the fight to the Capitol, and bring down its sadistic leader, President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

The rebellious assemble is led by Julianne Moore who plays President Alma Coin and her loyal henchman, Plutarch Heavensbee – the late Philip Seymour Hoffman (his final film before his death), who are hoping that Katniss will embrace her role as the Mockingjay and help to end the ruthless reign of President Snow to restore civility and order once more amongst the districts.

What is their plan? To make her into a political, anarchistic TV star who will stop at nothing to exact revenge on the dignitaries, but the problem is, despite being known for her fighting skills, strength and fortitude, Katniss has not returned as the same person who left. Instead we see a broken shell of a person who is left devastated at the thought that her fellow district ally and her sort-of boyfriend Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) has been left behind in the arena and presumed dead. The only anger and defiance she is showing now is not towards President Snow and The Capitol, but for those who planned to help her get away leaving Peeta behind.

Feeling emotionally shattered, her familiar confidants Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) and Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) prove to be the perfect compatriots to restore the anger and common sense back into the reluctant freedom fighter in the vain hope that she will inspire more insurgents to revolutionise the breaking system.

Thanks to her backstage crew and televised features, her accomplices all unite to create the perfect Mockingjay mercenary through transformations of her hair, clothing and provided speeches, none of which is the real Katniss. It takes an emotional visit to her former blitzed District 12 to make her inner spirit catch fire once again, as Plutarch Heavensbee schools her in the art of  propaganda designed to sway the hearts and minds of the people, whilst under the film direction of Cressida (Natalie Dormer).

So the uprising begins for Katniss and her crew, whilst always harbouring her hope that Peeta will be safely returned to her – a deal that President Alma Coin cannot refuse in order to ensure the participation of the crowd-pleasing Mockingjay.

The movie may commence focusing on Katniss in the bunker of District 13, as people scramble around her trying to restore her vitality and vigour that she has become known for, but this helps to humanise the heroine and keep her plight realistic. She would hardly be expected to bounce around in happiness and not display any emotional fragility after her horrendous ordeal and this helps to bring a true sense of realism to the movie.  

However, for those who enjoy seeing Katniss in full fighting mode, it may be a difficult pill to swallow to see their tenacious victor crumbling and refusing to provide any real action, as her thoughts are heavily centred towards a boy rather than the devastation at hand, but despite the lack of initial bow and arrow flinging, the pace of the film is well delivered and it was always only a matter of time until the depressing energy rose back to normality.

The production design for the film was impressive, particularly as Katniss observes the masses of bodies gathered all around District 12 and the special effects were minimalistic, but they did not need to be anything bigger due to the majority of the scenes being filmed in the rebel bunker.

Jennifer Lawrence remains captivating onscreen, as she draws the audience in with her misery and pain, but with her mental and physical recovery taking almost an hour of the film, one can’t help but inwardly scream “You are the Girl on Fire, where is your rage?” Well, it is clear that it was left in The Capitol with Peeta during the first half.  

Arch-nemesis Kiefer Sutherland’s delivery of President Snow continues to be brilliantly and evilly contrived as the heinous leader remains ruthlessly cruel exacting his revenge on the uprising of the Districts at the rebel base exuding in tasteless revelry. It is good to see he hasn’t changed since the previous two instalments! 

Julianne Moore makes her Hunger Games debut in epic style as Madam President and the inner strength admired so much in the Katniss of the two films is instead shown via the leader of District 13, who certainly stands out in the film.

Overall, the storyline is moving and emotional, but for action-revellers it may be possibly a little bit too slow, as the trend for dividing the last film into two for delayed gratification may not benefit that type of audience. However, in doing so, we see a viable, human side to Katniss, who may not provide much excitement at the start, but she does set the story in place appropriately, until the rebellion gathers pace with episodes of running, chasing, shooting and bombing which cranks the atmosphere up.

The Hunger Games: Mockingbird Part 1 creates timely, tantalising suspense as the big build up to the drama slowly gathers. It carries the audience well throughout the two hours, whipping the viewers up into an emotional roller coaster of a journey with everyone’s favourite teen heroine. Katniss is back and once fully restored, she is catching fire yet again.

Verdict

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