Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Catching Fire stands as once of the most pleasant surprises of last year. It took the frantic, wild pacing and photography of the first Hunger Games film and pulled it in to the point where it was confident and collected. The action was wild, yet framed in such a way that you could understand it, unlike the extreme shakycam utilized in the first film. The character drama felt more grounded, and easier to relate to. The use of IMAX cameras gave the move a grand feeling that few current films can replicate - everything about this movie felt like a breath of fresh air for the young adult movie adaptations. So, the question is, how do you follow up such a spectacle?
The answer is, of course, you don't. As with the book it is sourced from, Mockingjay kind of pulls a 180 in terms of its pacing, character drama, and sense of confidence. This doesn't mean its disappointing, but it never quite lives up to the expectations set by its older siblings. Instead of dropping us into the washed out greys of District 12, we're thrown into the warm oranges of the underground District 13 as our favorite heroin is built into the vision of a revolution. Most of the film is staged underground in a restricted area, and in the same way the film feels a bit restrained itself.
The story is still centered around Katniss, as she grapples with the post-Quarter Quell events in Panem. Revolution is spreading through the districts, and war has essentially broken out. People are fighting back against their aggressive oppressors, and the leaders of District 13 want to use Katniss to fan the flames of the war. They intend to use her as a piece of propaganda, an idea that she doesn't want to quietly slip into. She eventually does, and sets out on a course to incite rebellion, and save the friends that she lost in the climax of the previous movie.
What Hunger Games and Catching Fire did best was show off their extravagant action scenes, something that I felt Mockingjay sorely lacked. I get that perhaps they're saving the best for last, but they've stripped part 1 of the soul that it needed to be a little more interesting. I mean, the entire first act of the movie centers around Katniss kind of wandering through District 13 life, being sad and distressed. She kind of just meanders, and the film feels lifeless - perhaps in part of the fact that Jennifer Lawrence's sad faces are so over the top that I couldn't help but chuckle at her performance. That being said, once she rises to her role as the "Mockingjay," the film dumps all of the baggage that it carried in its first act, and injects some much needed humor and action just in time to save the last 2/3s of the film. A scene that stands out most in my mind is a humorous back and forth between the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Plutarch Heavensbee and Katniss over production of a propaganda video that is most amusing.
If you can live with the fact that the first third of the movie is kind of dreary, and a little melodramatic at times, then you will go on to enjoy the last two thirds. There are some excellent action sequences, if a little brief, and some excellent back and forth drama between characters that really picks up the movie and saves it. I'm only hoping that they bring out the big guns for part 2, and end the series on a high note - I'm hoping for grand action sequences, and a satisfying end to the Hunger Games series.
As it stands, Mockingjay Part 1 is by far the weakest of the three films out so far, so I'm hoping its second half is far superior. They set the bar a little low this time around, so they can really only climb back up from here.
Catching Fire stands as once of the most pleasant surprises of last year. It took the frantic, wild pacing and photography of the first Hunger Games film and pulled it in to the point where it was confident and collected. The action was wild, yet framed in such a way that you could understand it, unlike the extreme shakycam utilized in the first film. The character drama felt more grounded, and easier to relate to. The use of IMAX cameras gave the move a grand feeling that few current films can replicate - everything about this movie felt like a breath of fresh air for the young adult movie adaptations. So, the question is, how do you follow up such a spectacle?
The answer is, of course, you don't. As with the book it is sourced from, Mockingjay kind of pulls a 180 in terms of its pacing, character drama, and sense of confidence. This doesn't mean its disappointing, but it never quite lives up to the expectations set by its older siblings. Instead of dropping us into the washed out greys of District 12, we're thrown into the warm oranges of the underground District 13 as our favorite heroin is built into the vision of a revolution. Most of the film is staged underground in a restricted area, and in the same way the film feels a bit restrained itself.
The story is still centered around Katniss, as she grapples with the post-Quarter Quell events in Panem. Revolution is spreading through the districts, and war has essentially broken out. People are fighting back against their aggressive oppressors, and the leaders of District 13 want to use Katniss to fan the flames of the war. They intend to use her as a piece of propaganda, an idea that she doesn't want to quietly slip into. She eventually does, and sets out on a course to incite rebellion, and save the friends that she lost in the climax of the previous movie.
What Hunger Games and Catching Fire did best was show off their extravagant action scenes, something that I felt Mockingjay sorely lacked. I get that perhaps they're saving the best for last, but they've stripped part 1 of the soul that it needed to be a little more interesting. I mean, the entire first act of the movie centers around Katniss kind of wandering through District 13 life, being sad and distressed. She kind of just meanders, and the film feels lifeless - perhaps in part of the fact that Jennifer Lawrence's sad faces are so over the top that I couldn't help but chuckle at her performance. That being said, once she rises to her role as the "Mockingjay," the film dumps all of the baggage that it carried in its first act, and injects some much needed humor and action just in time to save the last 2/3s of the film. A scene that stands out most in my mind is a humorous back and forth between the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Plutarch Heavensbee and Katniss over production of a propaganda video that is most amusing.
If you can live with the fact that the first third of the movie is kind of dreary, and a little melodramatic at times, then you will go on to enjoy the last two thirds. There are some excellent action sequences, if a little brief, and some excellent back and forth drama between characters that really picks up the movie and saves it. I'm only hoping that they bring out the big guns for part 2, and end the series on a high note - I'm hoping for grand action sequences, and a satisfying end to the Hunger Games series.
As it stands, Mockingjay Part 1 is by far the weakest of the three films out so far, so I'm hoping its second half is far superior. They set the bar a little low this time around, so they can really only climb back up from here.
