The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1// Review

Following her rescue from the devastating Quarter Quell, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) awakes in the complex beneath the supposedly destroyed District 13. Her home, District 12, has been reduced to rubble, and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) is now the brainwashed captive of President Snow (Donald Sutherland). At the same time, Katniss also learns about a secret rebellion spreading throughout all of Panem -- a rebellion that will place her at the center of a plot to turn the tables on Snow...

I finished the concluding novel of The Hunger Games trilogy, 'Mockingjay' a few months before they announced they were making a two part film based on the novel. At first I was a bit sceptical about this choice but after watching the film I thought it was a pretty amazing idea as it gave the director and producers a chance to incorporate more detail about each characters perspectives during the outbreak of the revolution against President Snow and the Capitol.

Jennifer Lawrence does yet another amazing job at playing the role of Katniss Everdeen. We also see her sister, Prim, flourish in District 13 as she assists the medical team under her mother's guidance and eventually gets promoted to train as a doctor.
 The transformation of Peeta as he is gradually hijacked by President Snow and the Capitol is also amazing yet shocking. We see Peeta's health, appearance and mental state deteriorate due to President Snow's evil techniques of brain-washing him and warping his ever memory of Katniss with tracker-jacker venom. He transforms from a pampered asset for the Capitol to end the revolution into a warped weapon in order to crack Katniss and put an end to her determination of overthrowing Snow's power.
 There's also a dramatic change in Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks). In The Hunger Games and Catching Fire she takes great pride in presenting herself as a Capitol citizen with lavish and extraordinary clothes. In Mockingjay she dwells on her old life and becomes increasingly vulnerable during the start as she begins to realise, while adjusting to her new and not-so-glamorous life in District 13,all her past luxuries have been stripped away from her. But, she gets by with the support of her co-mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, as he is becoming sober. Because of this, she begins to realise she is not the only one suffering the repercussions of the revolution.

The Hunger Games: Effie is as pale as a sheet and heavily made up. This is to show off to the rest of the districts that she is from the Capitol and has great proud in her identity and life of luxury.

Catching Fire: Effie's look begins to become more natural as she detaches herself from the Capitol due to the announcement of making past victorious tributes participate in the Quarter Quell.

Mockingjay: Effie is stripped from everything she loved about the Capitol including her flamboyant clothes, wigs and make-up as she settles in to District 13.

The music in the film is also amazing. Well, Jennifer Lawrence wouldn't be in the Top 100 charts with 'The Hanging Tree' if the music was poor, would she? I was quite sceptical about her singing this whole song and how the directors would interpret the tune and stuff. But they did an amazing job. They even adapted it to Collins's inspiration for the stories. Greek mythology. Collins was inspired by the Greek story Theseus and the Minotaur for the trilogy, especially the first two books. The tune to 'The Hanging Tree' goes along with traditional Greek music, where each verse gets quicker and quicker as the music progresses. I was so impressed with how they did this and loved how they tied it in to the scene where District 7 is overruled by the rebels.

All in all, I believe the cast and production team have done another fantastic job. I highly recommend this film to anyone. If you're not familiar with The Hunger Games trilogy, read the books and watch the films then come and see this film ASAP! Roll on part two!

Rating: ★★★★★