The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) is once again directed by Francis Lawrence and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, and Donald Sutherland. They are accompanied by an all star supporting cast of Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Elizabeth Banks, Mahershala Ali, Sam Caflin, Natalie Dormer, and newcomer to the franchise Julianne Moore. The film picks up soon after the events of Catching Fire (2013), and follows Katniss as she struggles to fit into her new role as the face of the rebellion. She is likewise forced to navigate a new power structure within the underground base of the previously believed to be wiped out district 13. This is all made even more difficult by the fact that she is simultaneously attempting to save Peeta and others from the clutches of President Snow. I’ve been admittedly enjoying my rewatch of The Hunger Games films, and Mockingjay Part 1 is no different. That being said, I do think this happens to be the most flawed of the three films up to this point.

The cast here is strong once again, Jennifer Lawrence fitting into her role better with each film. Funnily enough, I criticized her performance when I reviewed this film years ago for my high school paper. I’m not sure what I was smoking back then, but this performance is undeniably the best in the series so far. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is great once again, giving the viewers an entirely different side to his character. Sam Caflin gives a more human performance than the last film, shying away from the more charismatic side of his character. It’s different, but equally satisfying. Josh Hutcherson is in the film very little, but gets to likewise show different sides of his character. His range of emotions here really impressed me. Gale finally becomes a 3-dimensional character and Liam Hemsworth is up to the task of this extended role. Elizabeth Banks is once again better in this film than the last. I can’t believe this character has come so far for me from the first film in terms of enjoyment. Julianne Moore is a welcome addition, playing the cold but caring President Coin. I found it to be a really fun choice to sort of make us wonder about her character. Is she benevolent or just the beginning of another President Snow? Though, I feel this element could’ve been played out more for maximum effect. Donald Sutherland as President Snow is once again an intriguing and interesting character. Though, I do feel that the character is written in a way to be so eccentric that it becomes a little silly for me at points. But he does come off as stronger and less stooge-like than in the Catching Fire.

Katniss and Gales relationship is expanded upon here but still feels hollow. That is until this film sort of revealed what was to become of that relationship. It turns out it was always meant to be a doomed romance (at least so far). That retroactively made the coldness of the whole thing work for me.

This feels like the darkest film so far, each installment doubling down. There are many heavy themes such as genocide and torture. Though, most of this feels more like an impending kind of darkness. There are a lot of happy moments and such, but they all kind of feel like a reunification before the final battle when many will be lost. There is a constant structure of “moves and countermoves,” power plays being made between Katniss and Snow. This really helps to make the script feel properly paced, for every triumph there is a new problem and vice versa. This is nicely one of the more densely plotted of the films, with much of the film feeling like a complex set up. This is entertaining, but also brings up one of the bigger flaws with the film. Since this is the first half of what was originally meant to be one story, the film ends up feeling like it couldn’t stand on its own in any way. Even the climax feels forced in a sense. It comes up fast and ends at a moment that truly feels unsatisfying.

Overall this is a fun setup for the The Hunger Games climax, but also suffers from being just that: setup. The performances are effective and the story is serious and compelling in ways I wasn’t initially expecting. The unfortunate part is, this only feels like half a movie. Even more so, it feels like the weakest half of a movie in the franchise. Besides the occasional cheesy dialogue and tonally misplaced scenes, this is still a fun and worthy addition to the story, I just wished it would have stood on its own more easily. B-