Let there be no doubt. I love the Hunger Games series and thus I always get scared before going to watch a new one. With all the other movies of the same genre, The Maze Runner and Divergent, coming out and falling far outside the Wow-zone, why shouldn’t The Hunger Games stumble and fall?
It just never does.
Hell yes, I would be a warrior if I could look this fierce!
What is this film?
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” is the third installment, in other words the third book that now gets the compulsory treatment of being dragged out into two movies. And somehow this doesn’t make me so sad as overcome with joy. Because I don’t want it to be over.
If you haven’t watched “The Hunger Games” yet then just do me a favour and start, even if you are outside the young adult demografic. It is so much better than its demographic..
We start where the last movie abruptly ended. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence, the one who tripped at the Oscars) has just been rescued from the Games and is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. All she wants is to save Peeta, who didn’t get saved from the Games, although that was the original deal she had made. She doesn’t want to be a symbol of the republic.
But everyone else wants her to be the Mockingjay they all need.
Is it any good?
“The Hunger Games” can do no wrong, at least not when it comes to me.
Where other movies are predicable, Hunger Games movies always manage to surprise me, even though the choice in storyline isn’t necessarily groundbreaking. Where other movies have nagging and whining heroines, Katniss manages to cry and whine a bunch with me only thinking that she damn well has good reason to cry and whine. I mean, her whole world has turned to shit and it’s out of her control.
Although she tries her best to control as much as she can.
And where other movies just creates a world, the world of Hunger Games has a lot of interesting political, cultural and social commentary and satire that makes it that much more interesting to delve deep and start thinking about our own world. I mean, would you watch Hunger Games if they started to show it on TV?
And best of all, it always manages at some point to suspense me to the edge of my toes.
There aren’t a lot of movies who can do that these days.
The harsh reality of being an icon
An interesting aspect of the Hunger Game movies are how they go under the skin of the “celebrity”-world. How are celebrities created and maintained? How much fun is it really to be one? How much of what we see in the media is true? How much of it is staged? These elements are crucial to be aware of, especially for young adults whose only ambition in life is “to be famous”.
What makes Katniss the ultimate heroine of course is that she can’t act. The media stategist actually have to put her in the middle of all the hardship and war for her to speak as Mockingjay, the revolutionary character that she has to become to inspire a whole world to rise up and take a stand against District One.
This fact is an excellent juxtaposition to her otherwise very selfish thoughts. Because don’t think that Katniss really wants to be a hero for the better of all mankind. She knows being a hero is a shit job. She just wants to save the ones she loves. And they just want to save the cat 😉
Is it worth a cinema ticket?
If you haven’t watched any of the other Hunger Games movies, I would watch those first. I think you probably will understand what is going on just from watching this film on its own, but the truth is that you will ruin the effect of the previous two movies and you really shouldn’t go your life without this experience. Even if it is on your cheap ass 55″, flat screen LED-TV 😉
If you have already watched Hunger Games, you know that these are movies that deserve a great, big-ass screen and Dolby Atmos to proper drag you into this world of districts, vast social differences and advanced technology. It is made for the cinema experience. So get going!
What mood should you be in?
You don’t need to be in a specific mood to enjoy Hunger Games. There is action, there is romance, there are jokes both light-hearted and sarcastic and there is the escape into a world so different from our own yet still so similar which in and of itself helps us understand and criticise how we go about our own business.
You just need to be in the mood to watch a movie, really.
Further Watching
If you’re not in love with Jennifer Lawrence after watching all the Hunger Games movies, then I declare something is wrong with you. And most likely you don’t like the movies either.
If, like anyone normal, you love Miss Lawrence, you should check out some of her other movies. I would recommend to start with her Oscar-award-winning performance in “Silver Linings Playblook” (2012) where she stretches her acting muscles against Bradley Cooper (the cute guy in the Hangover movies) with some psychological issues and such.
Or, you could start with one of the early movies that put her on the map as an actress to watch, the chilling, and unnerving “Winter’s Bone“.
For another movie on creating a war through media manipulation, check out “Wag the Dog” (1997) where americans create a fictional war in the media to cover up a sex scandal involving the president in the time before reelection. Hilarious!
If you like my opinions on movies, then please follow my blog and I will give you a new recommendation on a movie in the cinema each week, from the ImDb top 250, Netflix or just Kult movies or Guilty Pleasures that I think are worth watching.
Jennifer Lawrence even has her own TV-Crew with her in her films 😀
Who am I?
I’m a freelance writer who likes to go to the movies. But I don’t like it when I waste my money on a bad film. I need to bitch about those movies.
If I see a movie that is absolutely worth the trip to town, 130 NOK ticket (£13/$20), popcorn and drink expenditure, then I need to rave about it!
And since I want to watch all the movies in the world, you can waste less of your time, check in with me and only watch the good ones.
In these New Release blog posts, I will pick a movie currently in the cinema in Norway at random, and tell you if it was worth a cinema ticket. It might be good, but does it deserve so much of your time and money, and does it benefit from a big screen and a huge crowd?
I actually buy tickets myself (unless I can get my boyfriend to be generous) and don’t have the luxury of being invited to pre-screenings, so my New Releases will be a bit late. Hopefully they will still be in a cinema near you 😉
Why do I think I can talk about movies?
With an over average interest in movies since watching Star Wars as an 8 year-old, and with some background in the industry, I know at least a little bit about what it takes to get a movie made, and have loads of opinions about what makes them great.
But no matter my merits, it is whether or not you agree with my taste in movies (or my boyfriend’s, whose opinion will be noted if opposing my own) that will make these reviews beneficial to you.
Where can you find the film?
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” was released on 21st of November and is still on as of today. It even has a black page on Imdb, whatever that means.
Want to get my next blog post? Follow my blog and get an email next week when I will hopefully get around to watch number 6 on the Imdb top 250 list, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I watched half of it and couldn’t take the slow pace so now have to force myself to watch the rest at some point. In the mean time, check out number 5, “Pulp Fiction”. Does it stil deserve to be on the top 250 list?
Alternate Realities 