The first of our two long movie goodbyes to the Hunger Games phenomenon is here with Mockingjay - Part 1

MOVIE review: The first of two long goodbyes to the global phenomenon of The Hunger Games, Mockingjay Part 1 delivers exactly what it must, saving the rest (and the best?) for last.

Two courses to end Hunger

When franchise finales are split in two, the resulting films are built neither for comfort nor speed. It is just pure economics.

Fans are asked to pay twice for the one story to be completed. The rampaging success of two-part goodbyes for Harry Potter and the Twilight gang proves diehard devotees don’t mind the double-dipping at all.

For true believers, it is all about making the experience last as long as possible.

Therefore, the opening of the closure of The Hunger Games delivers exactly what it must, and saves the rest (and arguably the best?) for last.

While Mockingjay — Part 1 will stand as the least effective or exciting of the Hunger Games films, it still has a crucial function to perform, and does it well enough.

As last year’s Catching Fire drew to a close, hard-nut heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) had been plucked from the tumult of the Quarter Quell and spirited away to the top-secret territory of District 13.

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) standing amongst her supporters. Picture: Supplied

As Mockingjay — Part 1 begins, it soon becomes clear that the time for playing games — at least in the televised-tournament sense — is long gone.

As the only effective resistance remaining to the oppressive Capitol-based regime of President Snow (Donald Sutherland), District 13 is all business, all the time.

Located entirely inside a drab, grey-walled bunker deep underground, the denizens of District 13 — led by the serenely steely President Coin (Julianne Moore) — are poised to unleash an uprising that has been years in the planning.

All that is needed to set the ball rolling is someone who will inspire the broken Districts of Panem to fight back as one.

Under the crafty guidance of image strategist Plutarch Heavensbee (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, still very much to the fore in proceedings), Katniss is transformed into a poster girl for the rebellion to come.

Natalie Dormer and Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. Picture: Supplied

This new role as a propaganda princess takes some considerable personal adjustment for Katniss, noticeably more vulnerable and reticent than her usual headstrong self.

It is the plight of her former Hunger Games love interest Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) that is distancing Katniss from a solid commitment to the cause.

Peeta is now seemingly a willing spokesman for the Capitol. Katniss refuses to believe his complicity as a traitor is real, despite the convincing case made by her longtime boyfriend Gale (Liam Hemsworth).

With genuine action sequences pared back to a bare minimum — and many series regulars left with precious little to do but remind us they still exist — this first flight of Mockingjay is more about treading water than making a splash.

Nevertheless, it is a compulsory part of the journey that hundreds of millions of people around the globe have willingly committed to.

The principal focus of Hunger Games buffs will be what moment the filmmakers have chosen to leave us all hanging on.

Without giving anything away, let’s just say the pause button has been pressed with tantalising precision. Same time next year, then? You bet.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and Julianne Moore as President Alma Coin in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1. Picture: Supplied

> THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 1 [M] - Film of the week

Rating: 3.5/5

Director: Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)

Starring:Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Josh Hutcherson, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Liam Hemsworth

“Katniss puts on a different kind of Games face”

Originally published as The first of our two long movie goodbyes to the Hunger Games phenomenon is here with Mockingjay - Part 1