The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

The dystopian franchise returns for its third instalment. This time Katniss becomes the face of a propaganda campaign mounted by rebels trying to overthrow the ‘capital’.

I’m low on time so I’ll get to the point - this film is a let down in quite a few ways. The first film was a solid bedrock, the second cemented that and teed up a great story, this one… does very little. The Hollywood tendency to break books up into multiple films has failed The Hunger Games.

Everything you’d expect from such a film is here; a high production value, good actors, a slick score etc etc… There’s a key ingredient missing though - a reason for it to exist.

As people in the film say, Katniss is at her best when she’s actually doing stuff. It’s a shame that she gets to do next to nothing! Lawrence is a good actress of course and works well as a sort of Joan of Arc/ISIS recruiter however the script lets her down; there’s only so much interest the creation of an ad campaign can generate.

There’s a lot going on in Mockingjay - Part 1, but none of it is of much substance. The rebel cause neither advances or retreats to any significant extent. A lot rests on Katniss’ and Peeta’s really boring relationship.

There’s room for this franchise to redeem itself in the final film, but Part 1 does not add anything worth seeing to the story. A well made waste of time and potential.