After much anticipation, I went to the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. Unlike other movie premieres I have experienced in the past, this one was pretty tame. It could be because there were only 85 Tri-Delta’s in the local Madison movie theater on a sisterhood event. After sitting through a half hour of unnecessary movie previews, the movie finally began.
My expectations for this movie were high since I read all of the books, and absolutely LOVED them. However, I was a little disappointed with the third installment of The Hunger Games franchise. The first two action-packed movies were focused on the actual hunger games, making the movies more engaging. The third movie followed Katniss on her journey to District 13, and her attempt to rescue Peeta from the Capitol. While there were still scenes showing the conflict between the districts and the Capitol, it seemed to just be a preview of what is to come in the final movie.
While I can appreciate that they wanted to split up the last book into two movies to gain more revenue and prolong the relevance of The Hunger Games, the quality of the story line would have been significantly enhanced if there were only one Mockingjay movie.
Although I would have liked to seen one final movie in this franchise, I have to say that this one was done much better than other finale movies that have been broken into two parts. Mockingjay: Part 1 blows Twilight’s Breaking Dawn movies out of the water. The acting was still strong, and the characters were endearing. In spite of being broken up into two movies, I still would recommend seeing the film and experiencing Katniss Everdeen in District 13 for yourself!