In the wake of ending of Catching Fire, our hero Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) struggles with the disappearance of close friend Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Inside her, a vengeance grows. A festering sore of spite, anger and devastation. With the Rebellion gaining speed, Katniss stands as their Mockingjay. A symbol of resistance.
The first part of the third installment of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games franchise, Mockingjay Part 1 continues the film series’s superb acting and breathtaking cinematics and interpretation to the silver screen.
It has not been long since Katniss lit the fire for the Rebellion, which is centered in the thought-to-have-been destroyed District 13.
The first 30 to 45 minutes of the film take place in the massive underground rebel base. Most of the time, the film moves by sluggishly. Little plot progress is made. Mostly set-up for later on.
However, the Rebellion’s president, President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) is introduced alongside Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour-Hoffman). They offer Katniss to be the Rebellion’s Mockingjay. She refuses.
With President Coin not convinced with Katniss’s stature, she begins to doubt her use. However, Katniss learns that District 12, her former home, had been destroyed.
She craves proof, so she sets out to her former home. Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) offers to go along. But Katniss ventures alone.
At almost an hour in, the film finds it’s momentum. And from here on out it barely slows down. Katniss lands in District 12, and what she sees fuels her to accept the role of Mockingjay.
Charred corpses litter the District’s center. Their tombs are the cement-rubble that lay atop almost 10,000 murdered souls.The Capitol fire bombed the District in hopes of demoralizing Katniss.
With the weight of 10,000 souls upon her shoulders, she begins to involve herself with the Rebellion.
Before Katniss and Gale set out for District 8, it is learned that Peeta had been captured by the Capitol and are using him to make Katniss stand down from the Rebellion.
She persists on and ventures to District 8. There she sees the brutality of the Capitol and how much pain the people of Panem are forced to endure.
As she is being filmed for Rebellion propaganda, she encourages other Districts to take up arms against the Capitol’s Peacekeepers.
Mockingjay Part 1 concludes itself with the Rebellion rescuing Peeta, who has been turned into a weapon to kill Katniss.
The revolution grows, the Capitol begins to crumble and Katniss Everdeen stands as the Mockingjay for the next episode of events to unfold.
