“Mockingjay Part I”: is it worth your time?
Staff writer and photographer: Miranda Bradford
Sophomores Matthew Mckay, Sela Estell and Sarah Howard are excited to see what “Mockingjay Part I” has in store for them.
The sounds of bombs exploding, rushing footsteps, screams and defying statements resound within the walls of theaters playing “Mockingjay Part I.”
This action-packed film had much excitement and hype surrounding it upon its opening, as well as some doubt and speculations about how it would compare to the third and final book in “The Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
The hardest part about seeing a movie based off of a book is that viewers go into the movie with expectations created by reading the book, which can either set them up for disappointment or enhance their movie experience.
Many who read the book got the feeling that the film ended up being a two hour trailer for “Mockingjay Part II.”
Rather than including many details that were mentioned in the book, the film left you exiting the theater only knowing that the districts were rising up against the Capitol with President Coin organizing it, that Katniss was becoming the Mockingjay and Peta was being used by the Capitol to weaken Katniss.
Although the film has a second part to complete the story, it would have been better to summarize what this movie covered in a shorter span and combine the two parts.
Looking at the movie from a technical viewpoint, there was a lot of unnecessary shaking which appear randomly placed in a lot of intense, action-packed shots.
A shot of a bomb exploding and Katniss running would be completely still, and then it would cut to a different camera angle that would be really shaky showing the same scene, only to cut back to a shot completely still again. Also, many shots took far too long to pull focus.
Not only this, but there were many emotionally high scenes taken of Katniss, where there would be a close up of her with dramatic music playing in the background. Although this in itself is not bad, it was overdone in the film.
However, one part of the film that was really enjoyable was the moment when on Avox asked Katniss to sing. The far-off look she had while she sang “The Hanging Tree” was well performed. This is one moment where reading the book allowed you to see a gold nugget placed in the movie.
As a reader, you were able to think back upon the role this song had in her life with it being tied to her father. The books allowed you to have more of an emotional connection you otherwise wouldn’t place as much significance on had you not read them.
Overall, the film was decent. There were good parts to it that were enjoyable and the actors did a wonderful job embracing their characters, but it is not one that I would suggest people spend money to see in theaters.
Although it is vital to see this movie for the second part to make sense, it is not one worth re-watching several times.
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