Mockingjay: Part One

Let’s begin with the elephant in the room. Did producers need two movies to tell the tale of Mockingjay, or did they needlessly stretch the storyline to make more money?

I haven’t seen Mockingjay: Part Two yet on the flimsy excuse that it won’t hit theaters for another year or so. I cannot, because of that, say with one hundred-percent certainty whether or not the producers needed two movies.

However, based upon what I saw last night, the likely answer seems, “No.”

It didn’t take two movies to tell the tale of the third and final novel in the Hunger Games series. The scriptwriters could’ve skipped a lot of the scenes that they instead elected to put onscreen.

With that out of the way . . . oh. Sorry. Did you want to discuss a second certain elephant in the room? The supposed anti-homosexual message in the Hunger Games, perhaps?

I won't do that today. Two reasons.

1)                   The elaborate cosmetics and costumes of the Capital hardly came into play in this movie, and

2)                   I already covered this argument in one of my other blogs. EntertainmentMicroscope.blogspot.com. Check it out.

Now, I can finally discuss the actual movie.

Acting? Excellent.

Music? Interesting. Fit well.

Wardrobe? Perfect.

Set design? Great, but understand that the characters spend a lot of time in the same couple settings. The effect wears off, but that lends a trapped, tedious taste to those scenes, and that works, given the story's circumstances.

Pacing? <cough cough> See my aforementioned remarks that regard whether or not the producers needed two movies to cover the events of the novel Mockingjay.

No, the writers didn’t properly pace this movie. Yes, the novel slowed down a lot around this point, but movies don’t enjoy that luxury. A story told via motion picture must remain in motion, and those motions must matter.

The fact that we met two characters named Pollux and Castor amused me (see next Wednesday’s post at Darkwana.blogspot.com to find out why), but those names seemed irrelevant in any metaphorical sense.

The action scenes (well, scene) runs smooth and aims to excite. Michael Bay would’ve approved.

The dialogue and plot offer deep, significant looks into war and other human natures. Michael Bay wouldn’t understand (I ought to stop picking on Bay, but after Ninja Turtles, screw it).

I would, in consideration of all things, recommend this movie. I loved the books and past movies thus far, and this one didn't disappoint me aside for the slow pace to deliberately and painfully stretch the story into a two-parter.

You can catch my novels, such as Daughters of Darkwana, on Kindle.

I publish my blogs as follows:

Short stories on Mondays and Thursdays at martinwolt.blogspot.com

A look at entertainment industries via feminist and queer theory, as well as other political filters on Tuesdays at Entertainmentmicroscope.blogspot.com

An inside look at my novel series, its creation, and the e-publishing process on Wednesdays at Darkwana.blogspot.com

Tips on improving your fiction writing at FictionFormula.blogspot.com

Movie reviews on Sundays at moviesmartinwolt.blogspot.com