The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I

I was disappointed with last year's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Commendably ambitious, it nonetheless felt like a padded-out interstitial chapter. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I doesn't entirely shake that feeling, not least because for splitting Suzanne Collins' final book in two. Yet I enjoyed Mockingjay much more than Fire: by blockbuster standards it's a smart, often daring movie.
Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) awakens in District 13, headquarters of an incipient rebellion against PanEm's Capital. Resistance leader President Coin (Julianne Moore) plans to use Katniss as a propaganda weapon against President Snow's (Donald Sutherland) regime: initially reluctant, Katniss agrees after seeing her home District 12 laid to waste. Personal concerns struggle with politics: Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), captured by the Peacekeepers, becomes a mouthpiece for Snow's government, and she wrestles with feelings for Gale (Liam Hemsworth). Their revolt spreads, and Snow resorts to increasingly brutal retaliation.
The first two Hunger Games movies were straightforward popcorn flicks, milking a grisly premise for escapist fun. Eschewing the gladiator set-up entirely, director Francis Lawrence instead opts for the grim consequences of war: summary executions, air raids, terrorist attacks. The movie doesn't lack for action - highlights include Katniss staring down two bombers Patton-style, and a tense commando raid intercut with a propaganda broadcast - but it's more grounded and horrific than the often-fantastic arena violence. For a YA adaptation it's heady stuff.
Collins (and her adapters Danny Strong and Peter Craig) daringly sideline their protagonist. Bewildered by PanEm politics, Katniss remains devoted to family and friends: one condition for supporting Coin is rescuing Peeta, even after his apparent defection. As the Capital exploited her in previous installments, Coin's revolutionaries maker her a poster child. Katniss even parachutes into a war zone for propaganda videos, shot by a shaven Leni Riefenstahl wannabe (Natalie Dormer). She's become a propaganda pawn, her image outweighing her life.
Mockingjay might collapse if it were ponderous or self-important. But we're so invested in Katniss and friends at this point that the film withstands turning serious. Katniss remains compelling, while the mere presence of mentor Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) or wardrobe Effie (Elizabeth Banks) draws chuckles under grim circumstances. While Snow's genocidal henchmen make easy villains, Coin's supports (wearing Mao jackets and chanting fascist slogans) aren't appealing either. This promises an even more ambiguous finale.
Jennifer Lawrence remains extremely compelling. From installment one she's given Katniss the same devotion as something like Silver Linings Playbook. Though Katniss is largely reactive, Lawrence handles her emotional arc well: burned-out bewilderment, anguished determination and fragile humanity. Tossed into a nightmare, she's forced to become a hero, nearly losing herself in the process. Lawrence's performance should even wavering Hunger Games fans hooked.
Most of the franchise regulars are back, with Elizabeth Banks skulking about her lost wigs and Woody Harrelson slurring quips and wisdom. Josh Hutcherson finally shows some range as Peeta, but Liam Hemsworth remains an impassive hunk. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jeffrey Wright benefit from expanded roles, and Julianne Moore makes a nice addition. But the standout remains Donald Sutherland. His affably evil dictator grows more compelling with each installment, the perfect monster to root against.
Many reviewers are trashing Mockingjay - Part I as a cash grab, designed to milk moviegoers of every last dollar. Fair enough. Yet this movie holds up both as part of the franchise, and an unusually strong standalone. If Part II is half as compelling, count me in.