Katniss is molded into a revolutionary in this first half of the Hunger Games series final installment. This first half of the big-screen version of the oft-derided Mockingjay novel is essentially devoted to the rebel leaders efforts to transform Katniss into their standard bearer and make her the focal point of their propaganda. Unlike its outdoorsy predecessors, this franchise installment is mostly confined to quarters — notably the secret, bunker-like headquarters of District 13, a hotbed of revolt led by its president, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore). In league with turncoat Capitol game-maker Plutarch (Philip Seymour Hoffman, to whom the film is dedicated) and wheelchair-bound high-tech wiz and hacker Beetee (Jeffrey Wright), the president aims to galvanize the surviving citizens of all the districts to overthrow the ever-devious President Snow (Donald Sutherland) once and for all. This state of affairs is new to Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence, all of 23 when this was shot), who awakens from the trauma of what we saw her endure last year to be faced not only with underground confinement but the apparent betrayal of Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). In a series of broadcast interviews with the emotionally manipulative Caesar (Stanley Tucci), the unlikely young survivor appears drugged, brainwashed or both as he warns against civil war and urges the rebels to agree to a cease-fire. Relieved that her friend is still alive but dismayed by his words, Katniss is taken to view the rubble that is her native District 12 in hopes of stoking her revolutionary fervor. By her side again are the ever-ardent Gale (Liam Hemsworth); Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), now sober and with little to do; and Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), whose insatiable need for high style and glamor are amusingly stymied by the militaristic drabness of District 13. Given more opportunity here than in the two previous films, Banks gamely pushes the role into quasi-Oscar Wildean territory. Its up to all of these characters to mold Katniss into “the face of the revolution,” and the films most entertaining moments portray their efforts to goose, prod and provoke the resourceful warrior into becoming a cross between Joan of Arc and Marianne, Frances symbol of la liberte. The central challenge faced by new-to-the-series screenwriters Peter Craig and Danny Strong was to bring the story to the brink of the inevitable confrontation between the oppressors and the oppressed. As things stand, however, audiences are left at the edge of a cliff for another year — until November 2015, to be precise — when Part 2 of Mockingjay will be released. YOU can catch an advance session TODAY at One Cinema, Call 03 4270 3395 for the secret session we have Eve of Launch... youtube/watch?v=IXshQ5mv1K8
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 23:16:10 +0000
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