By Brett Blake Though it is not without flaws (which we’ll eventually get to), THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 1 continues the franchise’s streak of providing thoughtful and resonant action/adventure entertainment, this time with even more of a dark, political drama(ish) undercurrent. It also once again reminds us that Jennifer Lawrence is a bonafide megastar, and one with serious dramatic prowess to back it up. Picking up directly from the events of last year’s THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE, we find Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) now a guest of District 13, the nerve center of the revolution against the Capitol of Panem and its sinister ruler, President Snow (Donald Sutherland). More than anything else, the movie is really about the optics of fighting a propaganda war, and we watch as the brain trust of the resistance, namely Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and District 13’s leader, President Coin (Julianne Moore), try to figure out how best to use Katniss as a symbol to unite all the Districts in the fight against the Capitol. Jennifer Lawrence continues to be an exceptional anchor for this series. Her Katniss is a fully human figure, wracked by concerns and doubts, but one who nevertheless finds it within to stand up for herself and for others. Both vulnerable and strong, Lawrence this time brings a deep undercurrent of seething, righteous anger to the proceedings, and her character’s ascension to full-blown propaganda figure for the revolution is handled with the right amounts of grace and conviction by Lawrence. She’s a magnetic film presence, and she shoulders all the big moments - whether they be action-y moments, or dramatic moments, or emotional moments - with incredible ease. Lawrence is once again joined by an aces, all-pro supporting cast of both returning and new faces. Of the returning group, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman leaves the biggest impression, since - given the revelations about his character at the end of the previous movie - he’s essentially playing a radically different man this time around, and he adds a dose of warmth and playfulness to balance out the character’s shrewd nature. The likes of Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, Liam Hemsworth (finally given some interesting material to play this time out), and Donald Sutherland (once again nicely underplaying his character’s villainous nature) all show up and do fine work, as well. Previously a central figure, Josh Hutcherson is rather short-changed by the storyline in this particular film, but the moments he does get portend some very interesting developments for him in the next (and final) movie. Of the new arrivals to the cast, the biggest is surely Julianne Moore as Coin, the de-facto president of the resistance movement, and it’s kind of a fascinating performance. Some of that comes down to the way the character is written (the movie seemingly goes to pains to avoid showing Coin as some kind of do-no-wrong saint who will restore democracy to the country with ease, instead allowing the character to be nuanced and - potentially - harboring hidden agendas), but a lot of what makes Coin an interesting character (in the context of this film; I can’t speak to the character’s depiction in the book) comes from Moore, who imbues this woman with a sense of deep calculation as well as humanity. This is a real, grounded performance, and I suspect Moore will have even more to chew on in next year’s PART 2. There are a few big action beats this time around, though far less than in either of the previous films. This is due to the nature of the story’s structure, which eschews the more blockbuster-friendly nature of the Hunger Games themselves in favor of a much more grounded look at how media perceptions can make or break a war effort. As it turns out, the movie is far more a political drama than anything else, and this material is handled very well. The philosophical and strategy discussions we witness are full of gentle, savvy satire, and these moments are as compelling and engrossing as any of the action bits; indeed, the character interactions and conversations are the true highlights this time out. They’re also treated with a seriousness of purpose, an unwillingness to talk down to a blockbuster audience; the dialogue is as intelligent and thoughtful as you might find in a straight political drama, and this intelligence remains one of the series’ biggest strengths. The technical categories are all top notch, from the dystopian bunker aesthetic of District 13’s production design, to the surprisingly thunderous sound mix, to the hugely effective (though subtle) makeup effects. James Newton Howard contributes his best score so far for the series - there’s a sequence where Katniss sings a song called “The Hanging Tree,” and Howard takes the melody and embellishes it in grand orchestral fashion to underscore a rebel attack on a dam; it is one of the most potent and effective combinations of music and imagery in any film this year. The movie does have a significant flaw, however, and that is that it is in no way a fully-formed motion picture. By design (read: the studio decreed that the source novel be split in half, as has been the new custom for adapting the final novels in popular book series), MOCKINGJAY - PART 1 is literally that, one half of a larger film, the conclusion to which we won’t see for another full year. I’ve seen some calling the final moments of the movie a “cliffhanger,” but I don’t think it’s anything of the sort. The movie simply stops. Yes, the last moments leading up to that stoppage do lay exciting groundwork for what we will see in the final installment - and there’s an attempt to close the film on an emotionally interesting and complex note - but there’s not even a cursory stab at crafting a kind of mini-climax for this first half of the MOCKINGJAY story. In ten years, once the dust has settled and we’re able to look at THE HUNGER GAMES as a complete series of four movies, there is no way a person is ever going to sit down and decide to watch MOCKINGJAY - PART 1 on its own and for its own merits; he or she will most likely sit down and view both halves of the MOCKINGJAY story together, as they were originally conceived in literary form. If PART 2 sticks the landing, this will be much less of an issue, if it even remains an issue at all. But this review is in regards purely to THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 1, and on that basis, it truly does not feel like a complete movie. That said, taken for what it is, the movie is never anything less than a compelling experience, and it brilliantly sets the stage for what will (hopefully) be a satisfying conclusion next year.
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