Just about everyone in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1” is losing it, has lost it or never really had it.
Lost it as in losing loved ones, and lost it as in, out of their minds.
Still reeling from the Quarter Quell madness, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is hidden away in the underground 13th District, battling PTSD, sometimes suffering from nightmares within nightmares in the dead of night.
Katniss’ beloved Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), having been left behind when all hell broke loose, is now apparently the only guest on the Capitol’s official TV network, where Stanley Tucci’s insanely upbeat Caesar Flickerman prods Peeta to urge the rebels to lay down their weapons. Whatever’s going on with Peeta, the people now believe him to be a traitor.
Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) is without makeup and wardrobe and considers herself a political refugee in the 13th. Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) is in rehab, trying to kick the sauce.
As for President Snow (Donald Sutherland), he of the meticulously trimmed white beard and the obsession with white roses and oppression — well, hasn’t he been crazy from the get-go?
“Mockingjay — Part 1” is a dark film on two levels: in tone and in the visuals onscreen. Though we’re once again treated to often stunning production design and first-rate CGI, most of the film takes place at night or in underground bunkers. On the rare occasions when the action takes place above ground and in the light of day, most of what we see are the human remains and the rubble in districts largely wiped out by President Snow’s forces.
Lawrence owns the role of Katniss from the moment she appears onscreen — but she’s once again playing the reluctant heroine, telling everyone from District 13 President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore, looking a bit like Madonna with her straightened, white-blonde hair) to the still-smitten Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) to propaganda guru Plutarch Heavensbee (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) she never wanted to be the symbol of the revolution.
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For a long stretch — too long — “Mockingjay Part 1” plays like a futuristic version of “Wag the Dog,” with Plutarch overseeing the work of a film crew led by Natalie Dormer’s Cressida. Their mission is to create a series of propaganda short films, or “propos,” they hope to transmit to the other districts. (And there’s Woody Harrelson, more than a quarter-century after playing “Old Shoe” in the propaganda film in “Wag the Dog,” now playing the guy who figures out you can’t get Katniss to manufacture her fire; you’ve got to take her to her bombed-out home district and to a hospital housing the wounded so she can realize how many have sacrificed everything for the cause. Only then will the pro-revolution commercials ring true!)
“The Hunger Games” (2012) and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (2013) were superb adaptations of the wildly popular books by Suzanne Collins, with spot-on casting, beautiful sets and production design, and first-rate special effects that did a surprisingly good job of capturing some of the more fantastical elements of Collins’ imagination.
We’re back in business for chapter three of the film series, with the Austrian director Francis Lawrence returning from his “Catching Fire” triumph to deliver another rousing yet often bleak and downbeat film that focuses a lot more on tragedies and setbacks than applause-generating heroics.
Often “Mockingjay” teeters on the shore of maudlin waters, and sometimes it gets wet. When Katniss sings a dirge titled “The Hanging Tree,” there was a moment when I got the chills — and then it just kept going, and going, and going, way past the point of overkill.
Also, some of the smartest characters in the franchise take a long time to wise up to some fairly obvious doings. After one major character literally and quite clearly warns the rebels, another major character proclaims, “He’s sending a warning!”
Indeed.
If “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” (coming to theaters in November 2015) has a running time equal to “Part 1,” that means the last entry in the trilogy will total over four hours. As was the case with the “Twilight” franchise, the reasons for the split of the adaptation of the last book seem more financial than creative.
Even with so many colorful characters returning — and so many of them dealing with huge changes in their respective worlds — things become repetitive. Too many semi-rousing speeches from President Coin, too many scenes of Katniss reacting to the horrors of war, too many scenes we’ve seen in other films (especially the animal-themed segments).
What works: Lawrence’s non-glamorous, grounded performance as Katniss, who’s ever vulnerable but capable of great bravery. Great supporting work from Hoffman, Banks, Harrelson and Jeffrey Wright. Sutherland’s love-to-hate-him work as President Snow. A few beautifully choreographed sequences, most notably a covert mission inside the Capitol. A genuinely shocking moment involving Peeta.
Ultimately, “The Hunger Games: Part 1 — Mockingjay” serves as solid if unspectacular first lap around the track of a two-lap race. We’re heading for home, and we know the best is yet to come.
[s3r star=3/4]
Lionsgate presents a film directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Peter Craig and Danny Strong, based on the novel by Suzanne Collins. Running time: 123 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images and thematic material). Opens Friday at local theaters.
