It's a very rare instance where you can say the third film in a movie franchise is the best of that franchise but that was the case in the Harry Potter films and it's the case for The Hunger Games movies. The third Potter film, Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by the Oscar Award winning directer Alfonso Cuaron. It showed a different side of Harry than the previous two films directed by Christopher Columbus, a more petulant, angry side to Harry no one had ever seen. The same goes for The Mockingjay Pt. 1. Francis gives us a different side to Katniss no one has seen yet, a more determined, hardened, smarter, and somewhat fearless Katniss the first two movies didn't bring to light. In my opinion that makes The Mockingjay Pt. 1 a far better film. The same cast is all back for round three but there have been some new additions. Julianne Moore plays President Alma Coin, Mahershala Ali plays Boggs, Sarita Choudhury plays Egeria, Wes Chatham plays Castor, Elden Henson plays Pollux, and Natalie Dormer plays Cressida.
This time around there is serious unrest in the districts, so much so that any association with the Mockingjay is a crime punishable by death and yet the districts fight anyway. There are some incredibly moving and powerful scenes in this movie. I call them "movie moments", where the director let's it all hang out. Francis did that a few times here so I can rest assured that Pt. 2 will be chock full of them. District 13 has taken in refugees from the utter destruction that was District 12 but that wasn't just done out of the kindness of President Coin's heart. She and Plutarch Heavensbee played once more by Phillip Seymour Hoffman wants no...needs her to be the voice and the face of the rebellion against the Capitol. She of course refuses at first but when she sees that Peeta is still alive she agrees but with conditions of her own and one is that her sister Prim gets to keep her cat. The other more pressing demands is that Peeta and the other Hunger Game victors be rescued as soon as possible. When a deal has been struck Katniss is introduced to Cressida, the best director the Capitol had before she defected. They want Katniss to star in a series of short propaganda films that the other districts can be inspired by. When Katniss sees what was done to District 8 she is more than eager to keep her end of the bargain.
The Mockingjay Pt. 1 is the first of the movies without another contest of kids killing kids, here we have adults finally being killed by other adults and it's a little jarring but great film making. Francis shows us the true dedication many of the Districts have for wanting to be from under the yoke of the Capitol with everything from fighting Capitol aircraft with small arms to suicide missions. The cinematography by Jo Williams was pure perfection. There wasn't a moment where anything looked off or out of place as far as look and feel. The music by James Newton Howard, while not one of my favorite composers did an excellent job with this score and lucky for him he had a lot to work with. There were some truly inspiring moments in this film and James' score was the perfect accompaniment. The Mockingjay Pt. 1 shows that Francis' Catching Fire was no fluke and that he was the right man to take over from director Gary Ross. I highly recommend this movie if you are/were a fan of the books and even if you haven't read them, this movie will still blow you away. Get your ticket and I'll see you at the theater.
OK, I'm gonna watch the whole series. I liked the books.
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