If you have fond memories of watching Katniss Everdeen master the wilderness in
the earlier Hunger Games films, you may well be disappointed with the latest
version.
The memorable
character created by the remarkable Jennifer Lawrence is still the central
figure of the story, but because Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), her great love, has
been captured and brainwashed by The Capitol, Katniss spends most of the movie
in a sad stew of emotions ranging from tears, to depression to despair. This is
one actress whose natural ability and strong personality can’t be sidelined
without consequences.
If that isn’t
enough, most of the picture unfolds in a dark underground bunker where survivors
of the war are hunkered down. When Katniss does make it to the landscape
outside, she sees only the rocks and rubble that are the smoldering ruins of her
District. That said, the District is still alive under the direction of
President Coin (a welcome Julianne Moore) who, along with Plutarch (the late
Phillip Seymour Hoffman), has decided that Katniss will become the symbol of the
radicals’ rebellion against The Capitol which is still in the hands of President
Snow (Donald Sutherland).
Unfortunately, this dark chapter comes fully alive only when Katniss reasserts
herself as she becomes the face of the revolution against oppression. Since the
filmmakers are forcing us to wait until Mockingjay Part II for the final
confrontation, there is a feeling here of marking time.
Here are a
few details I noticed in the grim landscape. Kiefer Sutherland’s white beard,
real or fake, is superb. Julianne Moore’s serious demeanor and oddball hairdo
mark her as a player for the next round. Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch is much more
fun now that he’s sober. The actual physical darkness of the movie turns any
theater into a gloomy place where the people around you are invisible in the
absence of any light from the screen. It’s a genuine fear escalator.
We can only
hope that the makers of Part II will liberate Jennifer Lawrence from sorrow.
After making Katniss Everdeen a household name, she doesn’t deserve submersion
in misery and darkness for the entire length of a long movie. One other quibble
from this genuine fan of the series: a heroine this strong deserves to have
strong men around her who deserve the concern and affection she offers them.
Might Josh Hutcherson find a way to rise to the occasion? Here’s to Mockingjay
Part II.
Just as
Interstellar opened on the day America announced the future by landing a box
on a distant planet, this Hunger Games chapter opened on the day the
government announced that China has the power to destroy the American power
grid. That is a development wholly in concert with the cruel possibilities
suggested by The Hunger Games. But this is something new. Reality is
edging ever closer to the exaggeration we expect in blockbuster movies. It is an
eerie feeling to sense probability where silliness once reigned.
Film Critic : JOAN ELLIS
Film Title : The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I
Word count : 496
Studio : Lionsgate
Running time : 2:03
Rating : PG-13
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