The build up to me watching this film was very strange, I have read all three Hunger Games books and enjoyed all of them, I loved the Catching Fire movie and thought the trailers for this film looked good, yet despite all that, I was not interested in seeing this movie. It came out in theatres, got a good reception but i didn't see it, it came out on Blu-Ray but it took me forever to buy it, eventually I did buy the Blu-Ray but still took me forever before I watched it. I have now seen Mockingjay Part 1 and I have a few things to say. Mockingjay Part 1 is based on roughly the first half of the Mockingjay novel and shows Katniss Everdeen at her lowest, her home is destroyed, her best friend is imprisoned and being tortured and she is being used as nothing more than a piece of propaganda with little control over her own destiny.
The first and best thing I can say about this movie is Francis Lawrence's directing, the man did an excellent job with Catching Fire and visually speaking he does an even better job here. The cinematography is excellent in this movie, but what really stood out to be is the use of colour. In your typical modern day dystopian film, their colour pallets are very monotone, earthy and basic, yet Francis is very subtly able to differentiate his pallet. Whenever we're in a brown rusty hallway, it's not just one shade of brown, there are multiple shades as well as uses of orange, black, red, etc, or if Katniss is looking over the rubble of District 12, it's not just grey buildings, there are subtle shades of blue & white. It's a small note to focus on, but it helps the movie feel more alive and interesting to look at, no two locations look the same. Although the best use of colour is during an evacuation scene where all the citizens of District 13 are running to the bunkers and the scene is pitch black with a turquoise alarm flashing on and off, and i can't really think of any films that use that combination of two colours before, and that made it a very fascinating visual.
Another strength in the directing is the use of subtlety, multiple scenes go by with minimal dialogue and it is told through pure visuals and facial expressions, yet the audience is is fully able to comprehend the emotions that the characters are experiencing. A technique that doesn't get used often enough considering the fact that this is a visual medium and I greatly appreciate this film respecting it's audiences intelligence, when a lesser film would have felt the need to explain everything in a forced manner and compromise the integrity of the director and the actors.
One of the biggest flaws that people have pointed out for this movie is the awkward pacing and I have to agree. The entire movie feels like one giant first act and it ends just as things were getting interesting. Now some have made the argument that the previous movie did something similar, but the previous film felt like you had gone on a full adventure on it's own, and you were excited to see more but you were still satisfied with what you got, this film however feels like nothing but the set up for an exciting story in the next film. The focus on the propaganda of the system, as well as Katniss' emotional conflict with the whole thing is engaging and for the most part works well, but looking at the bigger picture, not a whole lot of development was made in those terms. But to be fair, this doesn't bother me that much because this feels like a similar pacing to the book so i expected it to feel like this.
Then there are the characters, most of whom are shoved to the side and have very little to do in the film, such as Haymitch who almost gets lost in the background, as well as Beetee who is apparently disabled now...when did that happen. Even some of the acting seems off, Elizabeth Banks as Effie is normally an enjoyable character but i don't think she was handled well here. She's known for being a very over the top and flamboyant character, yet here, without her costumes and extravagant looks, she still behaves the same way and it just seems silly. She's a character who identifies herself by her outfits, so you take away her outfits and i would have expected a serious change, but she still behaves the same, and that performance coming from a normal looking person doesn't work for me. Even Jennifer Lawrence feels like she's forcing her own performance, and she's one of the best actors of this generation, yet whenever she is experiencing cases of extreme shock or anger, i'm fully aware i'm watching someone act.
Finally there are the differences and similarities to the book, and to be fair, i can't find any major changes to the film, it was a rather faithful adaptation of the first half of the book. Though I will say that when Peeta was doing the interviews, there was supposed to be a clear physical change in his look, and while the film addresses that and Katniss says "what have they done to him!?" i couldn't tell that there was anything different about him up until the end of the movie, but during the interviews he looked the exact same.
Overall, Mockingjay Part 1 is a beautiful looking film with a strong thematic core, but the story and pacing don't work for me and the actors feel wasted at times. I'm giving Mockingjay Part One a 7/10.
-Danny
No comments:
Post a Comment