The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 November 2o14



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The Crying Games: Mocking JLaw – Part 1

Okay, I admit it! I like the three books that make up The Hunger Games series better than the movies! The books are an exceptional exploration of war and its effect on everyone in the community who experiences it either by direct participation or indirect inclusion. The books are well written, personal, grim and very gritty. I’m rather surprised that a YA set of novels would be quite as grizzly and horrifying in its depiction of war.

 

So, why are the movies NOT as “good” as the books? Well, wanting a PG-13 rating may well be the main reason since most of the people who read and fell in love with the books are 13 to 16 year olds AND wouldn’t be allowed into an R rated film which is this movie needs if you want to honestly explore the ideas created by the books.

 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 tries to express ideas about the propaganda of war, but doesn’t quite investigate it as well as it should. Mostly, Mockingjay - Part 1 is a movie about Jennifer Lawrence’s character, Katniss, crying. The character cries about everything. She cries when she’s reunited with her family, cries when people try to make her the symbol for the “revolution,” when she sees that her lover (boyfriend, I should say) is alive, she cries, and guess what she does when she goes back home to find the whole town wiped out by the Capital’s army? I mean, you could make a decent drinking game out of it, “Okay, guys, take a drink every time Katniss cries.” You’d get quite a buzz.

The problem with this movie is that it’s more a trailer for Mockingjay - Part 2 than an actual self-sustaining movie. I was surprised when the movie was over and they rolled credits. I thought they were just getting started! The movie is mostly exposition than anything else.  I’m guessing that the thought of bigger box office receipts had a lot to do with deciding to make four movies instead of three. Now I gotta wait a WHOLE YEAR before I find out what happens! Thank God I read the books!

P.S. It may sound like I’m “mocking” Jennifer Lawrence in this piece, but I’m not. She’s an exceptional actress. I do believe that the powers that be lead her down a bit of the wrong path in this particular movie venture.