On November 21st, the third installment of the best-selling trilogy by Suzanne Collins opened in theaters across the world.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 attracted superfans of the series as well as casual spectators, which helped make it the biggest opening weekend at the box office of the year, starting with over 123 million dollars, according to Variety.com.
Although it was predicted to be very successful, many people were nervous to see how enjoyable the movie would actually turn out to be.
“After reading Mockingjay, I was very nervous to see how the movie would turn out,” junior Erika Cappell said.
Director Francis Lawrence — not related to the movie’s star, Jennifer Lawrence — had a difficult task at hand while creating the film. Not only was it the first of the final two movies, Mockingjay has also been regarded by fans as the weakest book in the Hunger Games trilogy.
Within Mockingjay, there was no Hunger Games, but rather a war throughout the book. Although gruesome, there was no doubt that the reason that the books and movies were so successful was because of the interesting concept of teenagers fighting each other to the death. Mockingjay perhaps lacked some of the excitement that the first two movies delivered due to the loss of the presence of such a concept.
However, the novel also offers a shift in setting from the arena to the outside world, examining what happens after the Hunger Games are over, and how the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, is left to lead the rebellion against the oppressive government of the Capital. Ultimately, the storyline turns into a more dilute plot that audiences have seen many times before, with typical rebellions and attacks.
Despite the plot not being as interesting as the first two movies, the movie redeems itself with constant action. Although the beginning seemed to drag on a little too long, as did the two other movies, once the picks up in action, it remains like that for the rest of the movie.
The scenes of the attacks on Katniss’ district, as well as other districts that Katniss encounters, are more real than a lot of the movies audiences are subjected to these days. The explosions are not overwhelming and never become jaded, making it more realistic and putting the audience right besides the hero.
Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is not the moody and sometimes annoying character that people have become used to seeing. Although stubborn, Katniss is an overall likeable character in this installment when compared to the first two movies. Still, there are times when one can tell that Lawrence is trying to push the theme of standing up for oneself and telling girls to have a voice for themselves when, in actuality, her actions come across as just being a stubborn, rebellious and moody teenage girl.
The relationship between Katniss and her romantic interest Gale, played by Liam Hemsworth, was a huge disappointment that probably had millions of fans on “Team Gale” angry. Whether purposely done or not, Katniss’ and Gale’s relationship almost ceased to exist, with no real chemistry between the two even when confronted in difficult situations.
When Gale volunteered himself to save Peeta — who was absent from most of the film due to being captured by the Capitol — the whole audience didn’t find it that romantic, since they hadn’t had any spark the entire movie. If this was done purposefully so that the audience would sway their preference more towards Peeta, Katniss’ other romantic interest, played by Josh Hutcherson, then it gave the audience almost no other choice but to side with him, which defeats the whole purpose of the love triangle in general.
This movie basically shut down Gale from ever developing a further relationship with Katniss, foreshadowing who the victor of this love triangle will be.
Despite the dull chemistry, the film does a great job on focusing their attention towards other districts, besides 12, that many had craved to see. Oftentimes, the film would cut to different districts, showing various regions’ tactics towards rebellion , which lent more attention-grabbing action to the story, as well as a more dynamic setting that had failed to be seen in the first two movies. The producers did a good job on focusing their attention more towards the entire country rather than just one district, symbolizing how each district was coming together to fight against their oppressive government and the evil President Snow, played by Donald Sutherland.
Overall, Mockingjay was a success in both profits and quality of the movie. They successfully started the ending to this fantastic movie franchise in a way that will have audiences leaving happy, especially those that read the third book.
“I was very happy with how Mockingjay turned out and I will definitely be seeing the final movie in the series,” junior Diana Golden said.