MOCKINGJAY: PART 1 (SPOILER-FREE) REVIEW…FINALLY!

What Is It: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is the movie adaptation of the third book in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy.  It is the first of two parts; the second part will be released in November of 2015.  After having been saved from the Arena in Catching Fire, Katniss (Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence) finds herself as the new face of The Revolution.  Along with Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), the Rebels must work together to stop President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and save Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) from the Capitol. 

My experience: As with the previous Hunger Games movies (and all big franchise movies that I enjoy) I saw the first showing of Mockingjay Part 1 the night before it was released.  I reread the book before attending the movie and it proved to be a good idea.  It refreshed my memory of the events and allowed me to find and appreciate the differences between the book and the movie.  I also saw the movie with my sister who has never read the books so answering her questions was like testing my knowledge of what I had read.  I think I passed.

Why You Should See It: The Hunger Games is a great trilogy of books.  It’s not your typical young-adult dystopian future work of fiction.  It deals with real problems like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and war.  Because this movie is split into two parts, readers of the book will find that it delves into more details that we didn’t get to see in previous adaptations of this series.  As usual, everyone in the cast brings their A-game and watching the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s performance is truly touching and bittersweet.  While it does deal with some more difficult subject matter, it is dealt with in a sophisticated manner.  You will also get to see parts of the book that we don’t get to experience as readers of Katniss’ perspective.

The Future: This review is very late and the movie has been out for the better part of a month, so be sure to catch it during your winter break or during the holidays.  It will definitely leave to at the edge of your seat, waiting anxiously for next November to come.