The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part One (2014) Dir: Francis Lawrence
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This third film in the popular film franchise, adapted from the books of Suzanne Collins, is the first of those I hadn't yet seen. I had, however, read the book, so I knew roughly what to expect. I was pleased with the improvements Francis Lawrence had made with the second film, so I was relatively optimistic.
Visually, there was a mixture of good and bad features. Some of the shots were great to look at, the CGI continued to show improvement and the costume design was, as has been the case in the previous films, excellent. However, there were some considerable lighting issues - a lot of the second half of the film was extremely hard to see because of its low light levels.
The writing took a bit of a nosedive at various points of the film, which meant that there were several moments where I found myself rolling my eyes. There were a fair few cheesy parts of the film, which was both disappointing and, in some respects, inevitable. It was bearable, but certainly noticeable.
I wasn't surprised that the third book became two films, but I have mixed feelings about how well the extra time was used here. It definitely dragged a lot more than the previous film. I think the story felt very stop-start, and lost a lot of its momentum early on. I definitely think elements of the film could've been stream-lined and still worked.
Jennifer Lawrence gave another really good performance, as far as her acting was concerned. There was only really one scenes where I wasn't so keen, but that was it. She has been the most consistent feature of this franchise, in my view.
The increased screentime of Liam Hemsworth and his character proved to be of great detriment to the film. I just found him to be extremely annoying, in truth. I didn't enjoy his acting, but he wasn't helped at all by the writing of his character. He ends up feeling both in the way and an afterthought at the same time.
Donald Sutherland had flashes of what had made him a very good antagonist in the previous two films, but I was less convinced by him this time, for whatever reason. I think some of the scenes he was placed in made his performance seem very artificial at times.
I had mixed feelings on Julianne Moore, but I'm veering more towards positive than not - I'll say that. I liked her screen presence, and I liked how she interacted with some of her co-stars. She, like the film generally, lost a little momentum in the second half.
The most noteworthy amd enjoyable members of the supporting cast were easily Philip Seymour Hoffman, Elizabeth Banks and Sam Claflin. I wish both Banks and Claflin had more screentime because they were very solid. I was disappointed by how little we saw of Woody Harrelson, I think he deserved more.
I forgot how little Josh Hutcherson would be in this film, based on the book, but even so, his absence was noticeable. Other than those already named, I'll give mentions to a few others; Jeffrey Wright, Mahershala Ali, Willow Shields, Stanley Tucci, Natalie Dormer, Wes Chatham, Elden Henson and Jena Malone.
Overall, this was a bit of a disappointment, and a step down from the second film, although, I will stress that I did still enjoy the majority of it. It had some pretty good moments, mainly the action, but I think it was the weakest of the three films I had made my way through so far.
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