By Amanda Tennant, staff writer
Mockingjay was supposed to intensify Catching Fire’s flame, but instead it instantly extinguished the sequel’s blaze.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 1 was released on Friday, Nov. 21, 2014 and was supposed to be one of the most hotly discussed movies of the year. The plot is set in liberated District 13 after protagonist Katniss Everdeen was taken from the Hunger Games arena only to find her home, District 12, bombed into obliteration and her companion Peeta left behind in the arena. In order to protect Peeta and other tributes, Katniss agrees to be the face of the rising revolution throughout Panem and to destroy the Capitol.
First of all, this movie should have never been made into two parts. They could have easily fit the entire book in one whole movie because the plot was basically the tedious build up to the battle scenes and crisis at the end of the book. This movie was suppose to be about revolution and fighting, not just hiding in an under- ground bunker. Second, the devastation scenes were terrible. The emotions supposed to be provoked by scenes of heartbreaking destruction and aftermath didn’t happen due to the fact that the environment around them looked like a cheap, unthought set with badly plastered fake bodies everywhere. I know they couldn’t go all out due to the fact that this movie is targeted to the teenagers and they had to keep it PG-13, but they could have put in a little more effort into the set.
Though Mockingjay did have its suspenseful moments, overall it is only gets 3 out of 5 stars.