As with some of the recent franchises that have been released over the past few years, I was quite the newcomer to THE HUNGER GAMES. I had no interest in seeing them first time round as when I first heard he synopsis for the first movie, my initial reaction was it read to me to be a watered down teenage friendly version of BATTLE ROYALE (a movie which I personally love), so this get my back up. I can be quite the stubborn person so because of this I always avoided THE HUNGER GAMES and its sequel, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE. With the UK theatrical release of the third entry into the franchise now on the horizon, I knew it was time to sit down and watch the first two parts to get myself ready for THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1, plus it helped that over the past couple of years I have become quite fond of Jennifer Lawrence.
I watched THE HUNGER GAMES and the sequel back to back and I will hold my hands up and admit I was wrong, and how I wished I had now saw both of these movies on the big screen at the cinema! I thoroughly enjoyed them, yes they are similar in vein to Battle Royale, but with the addition of ‘The Capitol’ I found it made for a much larger picture.
The trailer for THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 had been showing in front of movies for quite some time in the UK, which made it quite hard to avoid any notice of it when going to watch a different movie on the big screen. Needless to say, when I was sat in my seat ready to watch I was quite excited! (I never thought I would say that!)
When Katniss destroys the games, she goes to District 13 after District 12 is destroyed. She meets President Coin who convinces her to be the symbol of rebellion, while trying to save Peeta from the Capitol
The two hour running time moved along quickly, and the credits soon rolled around. I sat there trying to think what I actually thought about the movie and whilst I thought it was good, not much really happened. Of course things happened throughout the movie, with the main crux being ‘Katniss’ becoming the ‘Mockingjay’ to help align the Districts to fight against ‘The Capitol’. The main issue that I had with THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 is that you can tell it’s more of a filler movie, setting up THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2. All the characters are there and they all play their part well. Of course we have the lovely Jennifer Lawrence back as ‘Katniss’, with all the regular characters returning playing their parts well. I do find Donal Sutherland very menacing as ‘President Snow’. I found that this was, to me at least, marketed as a movie with a bit more action involved I was left slightly let down. There really isn’t any great build-up of tension and the action is minimal. It really is just a filler movie set up for the next part.
I will watch this again, especially when THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2 is released next year. I just hope the final instalment is going to be as good as I hope it is going to be. As a standalone movie it’s ultimately poor, but I’m hoping the best is yet to come. Only 12 months until we find out!
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXshQ5mv1K8
