Five Things We Love About ‘The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part I’

01. IT GIVES INSIGHT INTO THE NOTION THAT EVEN GOOD GUYS WILL BULLSHIT ON OCCASION

Where 2012’s ‘Hunger Games’ saw central character Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteer in her younger sister’s place to enter the games, then choosing to defy the Capitol, 2013’s ‘Catching Fire’ went behind-the-scenes to present the corruption at the Capitol’s core. ‘Mockingjay Part I’ goes one further and turns the lens toward the shenanigans of the revolutionists. Viewers quickly discover that even Katniss’ “power to the people” swagger is somewhat contrived and injected with its own share of hype and FX. An interesting injection of ‘reality’ into the dystopian sci-fi genre, that’s for sure.

02. ITS SOUNDTRACK IS KILLER

And we’re talking both the ‘oom-pa-pa’-type dramatic symphonic score, and the ‘second soundtrack’ of tracks you don’t necessarily hear in the movie but that go well with its dark and twisted themes. Curated for the most part by 18-year-old ingénue Lorde, the album audio kicks off with a medley of dissonant synths, pianos and guitar before moving into Lorde’s most excellent ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’. There’s even a remix of the song by Kanye West, and while we’re not really down on the guy right now, we must admit he still has the cool remix touch. Other artists mixing things up on the LP include Grace Jones, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon, Chemical Brothers, Bat For Lashes, Diplo and Pusha T, altogether creating a soundscape that, to quote ‘The National’, “once you manage to come up for air to get away from it, makes you feel the itch to go back under again for more sorcery”.

03. WATCHING PRETTY BOY PEETA MELLARK’S SUBTLE DISINTEGRATION IS A TRIP

Once such a handsome thing, the apple of Katniss’ eye – played by Josh Hutcherson – slowly loses it in the looks department in ‘Mockingjay Part I’. Indeed we won’t spoil the ending for you if you’ve read this far into the book series but things are looking positively grim for Peeta.

04. YOU GET TO SEE PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN A SECOND-LAST TIME

Sure, the full cast is impressive including Julianne Moore as the ardent Madam President, Elizabeth Banks as an eccentric (somewhat washed-up) diva Effie Trinket, and Woody Harrelson as the sadly-sober Haymitch Abernathy, but it’s the brilliant Seymour Hoffman who steals a lot of the show as cool, calm, collected strategist Plutarch Heavensbee. The brilliant actor, who sadly passed away last year of combined drug intoxication, plays his role to the perfection and will also be appearing in ‘Mockingjay Part 2’ – albeit partly computer-generated.

05. THE MERCHANDISE IS SET TO BE BRILL

And that’s solely judging by the beaut metal badge we received at a preview screening of the film. A metal mockingjay, wings spread, rests in a perfect circle – different to ‘girlier’ jewellery seen online last year, fans should search high and low for this amid all the more commercial merchandising that’ll be made available.

And one thing we didn’t like… Some of our heroes expressed an air of fragility at times that we wondered what they were doing stepping up to the tough roles in the first place… But then, we suppose even the toughest need to shed tears occasionally.  Antonino Tati

‘The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part I’ currently screens nationally.