Reviews for this film from our members:
- Dragan Antulov @ Draxblog VI [Croatian]
- José Arce @ LaButaca.net [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Es evidente que se trata de una película puente para alargar el final de la franquicia, pero este dramón bélico es tan entretenido y está tan bien presentado como la entrega anterior. Así que todo bien, a la espera de que el Capitolio sea pasto de las llamas. El amor, ya se verá.
- Jason Bailey @ Flavorwire
- Excerpt: It’s not that the first two pictures were exactly laugh riots — they are, after all, chronicles of bloodthirsty oligarchs demanding children murder each other for their amusement. But the (now-de rigueur) splitting of the final book of the YA franchise into two films means that this half is, by necessity, less about big action bits and more about mood, more setup than payoff.
- Nicholas Bell @ Ioncinema
- Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ Spirituality & Practice
- Excerpt: A transitional time in the life of a leader-in-the-making played beautifully by Jennifer Lawrence.
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: The Hunger Games has turned into a cliff hanger serial with long waits for the next installment, but the overall quality of the cast and production still earn it a grudging respect.
- Carlos del Río @ El rincón de Carlos del Río [Spanish]
- Excerpt: De momento, la peor de toda la saga: mucha preparación y poca acción.
- Jim Dixon @ Examiner.com
- Excerpt: We may be among rebels fighting an evil empire here, but this revolution seems to have been stage-managed by Josef Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl. (Ironically, critics in 1977 wondered whether the triumphant denouement in “Star Wars” was deliberately modeled on Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will.”) When Coin addresses her uniformly-jumpsuited followers from an elevated balcony, their enthusiastic cries of “Hoo-rah!” might as well be “Sieg Heil!”
- Billy Donnelly @ This Is Infamous
- Excerpt: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 comes and goes, and by the end, I don’t really feel as if I’ve moved that much further ahead in the story from where we started to justify this movie existing on its own.
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: We can almost hear this revolution’s resounding rallying cry: “Hurry up and wait!”
- Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1’ is the calm before the storm as the rebels take steps towards the ultimate goal of overthrowing the Capitol and Katniss contemplates the role she’ll play in the campaign’s future.
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: Dour, dreary, and disappointing, milking every last dime out of the franchise’s devoted following.
- Steven Greydanus @ Crux
- Excerpt: Beginning in medias res and trailing off without a real cliffhanger climax, “Mockingjay: Part 1” may be essential to series fans, but it feels more like a TV series arc episode than a feature film.
- Vadym Grygoriev @ kinoblog.com [Ukrainian]
- Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Mockingjay is inferior to Catching Fire, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. It’s just that the excitement quotient of the story is a bit anemic.
- Blake Howard @ Graffiti With Punctuation
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: One of the best SF series ever deepens its critique of the power of propaganda in ways complicated, intriguingly contradictory, and a little bit horrifying.
- Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: This unnecessary placeholder is a five minute prologue crammed into two hours of mostly nothing.
- Ben Kendrick @ Screen Rant
- Excerpt: It’s a solid entry in the series, and lays an intriguing foundation for Part 2, but on its own Mockingjay – Part 1 is rarely as entertaining or rewarding as its predecessors.
- Oktay Kozak @ Oregon Herald
- Kristin Dreyer Kramer @ NightsAndWeekends.com
- Lovell Wesley @ Cinema Sight
- Excerpt: Having found its footing in two prior outings, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 coasts on its predecessors successes without inventing new or interesting pathways to deliver the audience to the final chapter with unanswered questions and a desire to see where it all ends.
- Alan Mattli @ Facing the Bitter Truth [German]
- Excerpt: Mockingkay’, with its astute political subtext – in keeping with its equally impressive predecessors –, provides a compelling case for why the ‘Hunger Games’ franchise is more than just another YA cashcow; it is accomplished dystopian filmmaking worthy of serious discussion and analysis.
- Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Brent McKnight @ Giant Freakin’ Robot
- Pat Mullen @ Cinemablographer
- Excerpt: more streamlined Mockingjay might best offer an epic conclusion versus a one-two punch delivered months apart. Still, Mockingjay – Part 1 inevitably has audiences hooked for Part 2 and leaves one hungry for Katniss’s grand finale. She’s just amassing an army with her soulful tune for a bigger, better fight.
- Frank Ochieng @ SF Crowsnest
- Excerpt: However, ‘Mockingjay’ feels as if it has lost a step since the aforementioned ‘Catching Fire’s lingering conclusion. Nevertheless, ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1′ manages to convey an imaginative sense of colorful chaos and wonderment.
- Jason Pirodsky @ Expats.cz
- Excerpt: Its only sin is that it’s incomplete: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is only the first half of the final chapter of Suzanne Collins’ immensely popular young adult franchise, and boy, does it feel it. All setup and no payoff, the film replaces a climax with a mere story twist and ends on a cliffhanger that leaves viewers waiting until next year for a resolution.
- Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: In this second sequel we are now past The Hunger Games and well into the revolution, the war is on, and many will fall. Brother will kill brother and blood will be spilled. That’s . . . entertainment?!
- Diego Salgado @ IGN España [Spanish]
- Sarah Ward @ artsHub
