“Mockingjay,” the book, is 390 pages long.  You could consider it a long novella or a short novel, but overall it’s by no means a lengthy story. Assuming you can read beyond a 5^th grade level, you could probably knock it out in an afternoon or two. A short read overall, especially in comparison to gargantuan tombs such as The Game of Thrones series or the last few Harry Potters. So why may I ask, was it necessary to split this small book into two films that most likely will end up over 120 minutes apiece?

 

The easy, and most likely correct, answer is money. Two films equals double the box office, double the merchandising opportunities, and more time for all the tweenagers to go out and buy their official Hunger Games branded products.  This extra windfall of cash comes at the cost of quality though, leading to Mockingjay Part 1 to be bloated, boring, and a significantly worse film than its predecessors.

               

Mockingjay takes place directly where we left Katniss and company in Catching Fire having blown up a force field surrounding the quarter quells arena and rescued by a mysterious hovercraft.  She wakes up to find she’s in District 13, the long thought destroyed home to rebels against the capital and their tyrannical government. They need a figurehead for the rebellion and that’s where Katniss steps in. Unfortunately Peeta, Katniss’s partner (and sometimes boyfriend) in the previous two Hunger Games, doesn’t have the same luck, being captured and brainwashed into a shell of his former self and a puppet for the Capital. Now Katniss and the rebels must rescue Peeta, destroy the tyranny, and set the people free! Well, in theory.

               

In reality, all the good set pieces must be getting saved for Mockingjay Part 2 because quite literally NOTHING happens here. What little story there is is drawn out and stretched until the plotlines are thin as pulled taffy, and infinitely less satisfying. Rather than the excitement of combat and danger we get from, with kids killing each other in cutthroat action and poor peasant folk trying desperately to survive, we get long scenes of such interesting affairs as Katniss and Gale hunting, Katniss rescuing her pet cat, and Katniss eating her breakfast.  To put it bluntly, it’s BORING. The few scenes that do meaningfully advance the plot are all bark and no bite with lots of buildup but no satisfying conclusion. Maybe these conclusions will come in the second film, but for now,  this lack of substance is leaving me starved.             

               

The worst part of the Hunger Games franchise is by far the romance, a tired love triangle that upon closer examination simply makes no sense, offering a will she or won’t she storyline that feels better placed in soap opera than a blockbuster film, a storyline that is unfortunately given more screen time in Mockingjay than ever before. Katniss works amazingly well as a protagonist, pulled out of her natural environment into the chaos of rebellion, but as a world weary, emotionally scarred victim of the cruelty of the games, she isn’t the best template for mental health, and certainly not for romance.

               

Peeta on the other hand is just an all-around awful character who never fails to put a bad taste in my mouth. His biggest problem is that, as a person, he just doesn’t make any sense.  Supposedly he’s Katniss’s love interest, but is it ever really explained why she likes this uninteresting, undeveloped pretty boy? So far there has been over 6 hours of movie in this series to build up their relationship, but together Katniss and Peeta simply have none of the chemistry necessary to portray a realistic showing of love. Combine this with the oaf’s heartwarming lack of any characteristics beyond “attractive” and “good at cake decorating” and you have a bland, boring, and utterly useless character.

               

Despite a budget clocking in at $125 million the effects are off-putting at best, fake looking at worst.  The pg-13 rating keeps any of the real brutalities of war from being shown, a problem in a film that’s supposed be about, you know, THE BRUTALITES OF WAR. We get a CGI explosion here, some bullets that seem to have the impact of rubber there, but not a satisfying shot to be seen.  It all looks fake and garish, just window dressing on a wilted salad, and not a particularly tasty dressing at that.

               

Considering how badly Mockingjay wants us to see it as a serious film about the horrors of war, there’s some just flat out goofy moments that make zero sense in the film’s context. Without too many spoilers, seeing a futuristic hovercraft being taken down by an exploding arrow seems more in place in The Avengers than say, Saving Private Ryan. Both are fine films, but polar opposites, oil and water that can’t mix without an ugly mess.  Mockingjay refuses to dive too deep into either mood, and as a result it flounders in the muck trying to support both.

               

Not everything about Mockingjay is awful however, particularly with the acting. The late, great, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and newcomer to the franchise Julianne Moore make a powerful duo as the rebel leaders of District 13. Woody Harrelson as a newly sobered (but still as cranky as ever) Haymitch is still my favorite character, even if he’s criminally underused. And of course there’s Jennifer Laurence. Katniss may not have much to do in Mockingjay, but Jennifer makes her look good doing them. Her charisma is strong enough at this point, I’m pretty sure I could watch Lawrence brush her teeth and still be enthralled.  It’s a shame this solid cast isn’t given a solid film to star in.

 

There simply isn’t enough story in Mockingjay to support two movies. In most of these split book cases, the second film is superior to the first, a tradition that I have no doubt Mockingjay Part Two will continue. But as its own film, standing on its own merits, Part 1 is a mess, with a poor tone, an even worse attempt at romance, and a general lack of reasons to care. If you want to see part two come next November, watching this is an unfortunate requirement, but as its own production, there’s little reason to recommend it.

 

1 and ½ stars out of 5