A flick you won't sink your teeth into

The Hunger Games:Mockingjay Part 1
English (U/A) ¬¬
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore

The Hunger Games movie franchise started off as welcoming to all movie viewers, regardless of whether or not they had read the Suzanne Collins books they’re based on. With Catching Fire (2013) ending in a cliffhanger, fans of the franchise, particularly those who enjoyed the first two films without reading the books, would’ve been waiting with eagerness for this release.

Mockingjay Part 1, unfortunately, does not impress as much as its prequels. The film seems like a half-hearted attempt to go by Collins’s book, so much so that it falls far below the mark of being even passably adapted for the big screen. Most of the time, one would be left trying to recall what happened in the books or in the Catching Fire film.

This is despite the fact that Mockingjay Part 1 depicts the rebel stronghold of District 13 in Panem, a post-apocalyptic America, participating in an uprising against the Capitol, which is headed by the tyrannical President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland).

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), who laid the groundwork for the rebellion, has volunteered to be the face of District 13 as the “Mockingjay”. One must sit through District 13 President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) trying to bring in more rebels by getting everything Katniss does on tape. The Mockingjay has become a sort of god for the virtually-enslaved people of Panem, but how this comes about is painfully reminiscent of present-day social media campaigns that come off as boastful. Meanwhile, Katniss seems to be conflicted in her love interests and does not put up many exhilarating fights like in the first two movies.

One major reason that this film proved to be disappointing is that it was needlessly split into two parts, making it drag on with a lot of scenes building up to anticlimaxes. But hey, two movies about one and a half hours each can potentially give their makers double the money in the box office than one film that’s a little over three hours. Perhaps the producers of Mockingjay Part 1 thought: ‘If Harry Potter and Twilight could do it...’ Think twice before buying tickets to this one, because if it were to appeal to anyone, it would only be to die-hard Hunger Games fans.