Review of “Mockingjay, Part One”

On Friday, November 21st, 2014, Mockingjay, Part 1, the third movie of The Hunger Games, came to theaters in the USA. The Hunger Games stars young Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence. When the movie begins, Katniss is tortured by nightmares, and is clearly haunted by the events that were in Catching Fire, such as The Capitol destroying District 12, the rebels leaving Peeta behind in the arena for The Capitol to do with him as it pleased, and the rebels expecting Katniss to be their “voice”.

After Katniss agrees to play the part of The Mockingjay, which is the face of the rebellion, she is shown some of the horrors that The Capitol plagued Panem with. District 12 is obliviated, District 8 is in ruins, and Peeta is its puppet. The fight worsens, and other districts are beginning to stand up to The Capitol and its tyranny. District 13 is on the verge of being discovered, and things are beginning to go south. Will Katniss be able to lead the districts to victory? Is Peeta a traitor or just a man trying to stay alive?

The weekend after the movie was released earned $123 million, which was about 20% less than Catching Fire made in the same amount of time. According to rottentomatoes.com, about 76% of the audience liked this movie. About 66% of the critics who watched this movie liked it as well.

In my opinion, this is a great movie, and you should definitely go see it. It builds up suspense and excitement for Mockingjay, Part 2. There are some parts that will leave you choked up, and other parts that will have you crying from laughter.  Like the rest of the series, this movie is rated PG-13. With a running time of 2 hours and 5 minutes, it is a long movie, but it’s pure entertainment.

Print PDF