The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Misses the Mark.

     "Mockingjay", the third film in the Hunger Games franchise, opens in wide release today.  I attended a preview last night so I could give my readers the low down.  Here's the skinny.   
     "Mockingjay" basically picks up where "Catching Fire" left off.  But be aware or beware, this is a much different film from the first two.  "The Hunger Games" was a violent, surrealistic romp much in the same vein as Koushun Takami's "Battle Royal".  I will assume you are familiar with "The Hunger Games" basics.   A randomly chosen group of teenagers are made to fight to the death in a virtual environment called "the arena".  Every move is broadcast live to the "City".  It's citizens gleefully watch the unfolding drama of sympathetic participants locked in a life and death struggle.  Sounds like must see TV.  "The Hunger Games" had tons of action with the teens doing it: survivalist style. "Catching Fire" was basically a reboot of the first movie, with a deeper plot and a promise of revolution to come. 
     Now we have "Mockingjay pt.1"  which completely down shifts from it's predecessors.  Gone is the arena, the action, the fighting, the struggle, and in it's place we have action at a snails pace!  Brooding expressions punctuated by crying fits!  The acting of Jennifer Lawrence is top notch but wasted much of the time.  The best part of the movie is the actors.  Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks reprise their previous roles with Phillip Seymore Hoffman in his final screen appearance. 
     The setting is an underground city, so most of the film is in darkness: Literally.  There is some tension and political intrigue which is basically nothing more than window dressing for pt.2.  And that is a huge part of the problem with this film.  It's a two hour set up for a movie we have to wait until next year to see.  I feel like I'm being held hostage in an underground city!
     A recent development in Hollywood is to take a successful film series and split the finale into two parts.  The main driver is to boost profits.  I find this very distasteful.  It was done with the last films of both the Twilight and Harry Potter film series.  They even took "The Hobbit", which is a short easy read for teenagers, and turned it into a trilogy!  This is great if the plot line supports it and the direction is snappy and crisp.  Instead what we often get is a film with the right cast, the right setting, everything is ready, and nothing really happens.  Or you get long drawn out scenes with characters launching into speeches which end up playing like a Shakespearean soliloquy.   You know, boring.  
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay pt.1 GRADE C +
Bargain Matinee or wait until DVD/Netflix .