Critics Rating: 3.5 Stars*          

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Josh Hutcherson

Direction: Francis Lawrence

Produced: Nina Jacobson, Jon Kilik

Written: Danny Strong and Peter Craig

Genre: Adventure, Action, Game

Duration: 123 Mins

The heroine for the rallying rebels of Panem is back, even if the Mockingjay opening implies that she is slightly damaged goods following the events of Catching Fire. After being rescued from the arena of The Hunger Games (Quarter Quell edition), Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is whisked off to the underground District 13, long considered annihilated by the Capitol. She struggles to retain her post-medication sanity, become the symbol of defiance against the powers that be and rescue Peeta Mellark, the series’ perpetual Gentleman in Distress.

Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) is the President of the District, running what is a highly regimented borough of dissidents, never mind if some details of the workings from the book are not mentioned in the movie. Former Capitol Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman, who will be missed) is around to provide able assistance and advice for occasions of war and propaganda (or ‘propos’ as they are known in the book and the film).

Mockingjay may be accused of being a cash grabbing device since it splits the book’s trilogy finale into two parts. However, the books’ fans are unlikely to leave disappointed since the film wastes no time in establishing the scenario yet does justice to the key events in the novel.

 

Certain segments of the book are bettered in the film since the narrative in The Hunger Games novels is restricted to Katniss’ first person POV. The films, from the first till the present one, better explore the expanse and extent of the revolution by cutting away to the oppression and uprising in different Districts.

Part 1 may seem a little slow to the non-readers, with a lot of subtext going unnoticed, but despite the fact that it is only building towards the epic showdown, the film has enough of action, speeches and newspeak working to keep you engrossed.

Those among the audience who watch the story for its complicated love triangle will be dissatisfied at the half-baked romantic insinuations sprinkled in the film. A crucial kiss from the book has been mangled from the tenderness in the novel into a strange display of passive-aggressiveness.

Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch Abernathy really needed more screentime. His character’s enforced sobriety does not take away from his sense of humour. A positive change that the writers have made from the books is giving Capitol escort Effie Trinket prominence in the Mockingjay storyline. Effie has been a constant presence in The Hunger Games, which made her absence for the most part in the final book all the more conspicuous. In the film, she is not a political prisoner, but an integral part of the prep team to groom Katniss into a TV-friendly persona. Her Lady Gaga flamboyance is at odds with the Spartan environs of District 13. That, along with her equation with Haymitch could have been played for more laughs, just like Katniss’ relationship with Gale could have elicited something warm. Mockingjay draws a minus on that front.

 

For most part, the film stays close to the source material with occasional deviations that work in its favour. President Coin’s speeches and Katniss’ powerful propaganda video sound even better onscreen than they do in the book. The background score and Jennifer Lawrence’s rendition of The Hanging Tree song keep the foreboding ambience together.

Sequences where the Districts rise in arms against the Capitol are rousing and raise the events of the book greatly since they only get a reference there through dialogue. Mockingjay takes the film into more mature territory. Suddenly, The Hunger Games is no longer the alleged rip-off of its Japanese counterpart, Battle Royale. It is not about being likeable and dressing to create an impression on audiences so that you may survive. Mockingjay breaks out the goosebumps on what it means to revolt in the face of vicious totalitarian clampdown. On the price you have to pay. “It’s the thing we love the most, that destroy us,” says Panem President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland), with twinkling glee.

The stakes are raised. This time it’s war. Mockingjay is neither an out-and-out action flick nor a romantic romp. If you could find it in you to draw a chair for the barbaric, titular reality show in the film, it is time to return to witness the backlash. The film may not be flawless, but it is one of the better book-to-movie adaptations to have released this year. Don’t miss it.