The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Fire Burns Brighter In The Dark

Some movies are good enough that by the time they are over, you don't even realize that two hours have passed. Mockingjay Part 1 is one such film.

Seriously though, I happened to glance down at my phone while watching it, and noticed that it was almost 2 hours later. That's the mark of a good movie though. You get so immersed in the world that things such as time, hunger, and one may even say fullness of bladder are completely ignored. If nothing else gets accomplished with this review, know this: Suzanne Collins and Francis Lawrence know how to get your attention and hold it.

As far as the characters go, they've done a really good job (again) at bringing Mrs. Collins' characters to life on the big screen. Everyone has once again been very well cast, and that just adds even more to the immersion and believability of the whole thing. In fact, it was so believable, that although I knew he looked familiar, I didn't recognize that the guy who plays Fulton Reed in the Mighty Ducks was in it.

This scene was awesome!

In addition to the characters, the story itself translates really well to the silver screen. Not only do you get a fair bit of action, but there's a lot of drama, as well as the over-arching storyline as well. In addition, I don't think they could have found a better place to split the two up.

As far as doing the actual split, at the time of this writing anyway, I don't think they really needed to split it into two movies. To paraphrase a quote from Jurassic Park, Hollywood was so preoccupied with whether they could split it, that they didn't stop to think if they should. Now, I'm of the mind that some films just need to be split up. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a great example of when a book should be two movies. Mockingjay just doesn't have enough going on in my opinion to warrant two films for anything other than monetary reasons. My opinion on this may change after seeing Part 2, but we shall see.

Like its predecessors, Mockingjay Part 1 gets 9 stars

Overall, the movie was awesome. It was emotional (for my wife especially). It was inspiring. It had some awesome music. For fans of the book, I definitely recommend it. Even for those who weren't fans of the book, I would still recommend it. Go see it in the theatres while you still can, because it is definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

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