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Created Dec 01, 2014 09:37AM PST • Edited Dec 12, 2015 07:38PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   This time it’s war, talky-war but war indeed. The Games themselves are in the past when Part 1 of The Hunger Games finale opens. War aside, it’s as if this richly imagined and action-packed series pauses to catch its breath in its penultimate installment.

   Mockingjay – Part 1 features the scales dropping from Katniss Everdeen’s eyes, and therefore from ours. Revealing the full evil of the dictatorship and the unveiling of the previously cloaked rebels who seek to bring it down provides almost enough material to sustain two hours of running time, with some well-mounted battle scenes filling the rest. You’d never know it’s only half a loaf, er, book. ;-]

   So what if it’s not as great as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, its immediate predecessor. That’s no sin. Next year’s Mockingjay – Part 2 can still reach perfection. We the people expect no less.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Jennifer Lawrence etches an increasingly mature version of Katniss Everdeen in Mockingjay – Part 1. She also reminds us of her profound ability to essay emotional immolation, something she’s demonstrated since the beginning of her career in movies like The Burning Plain.

   The rest of the cast were mostly assessed in my previous Hunger Game reviews, so only a few notes here.

   • Donald Sutherland’s dictator is one of his great performances, growing in depth each installment.
   • Watching Philip Seymour Hoffman is like viewing a ghost.
   • Julianne Moore makes her Hunger Games debut, and does it with admirable gravitas.
   • Elizabeth Banks makes for welcome comic relief.
   • Natalie Dormer’s streetwise PR director is a fascinating new character.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Francis Lawrence had more exposition to fit into Mockingjay – Part 1 than in the previous installment, his first as a Hunger Games director. He does it well, with a series of deft touches and only a few mildly awkward scenes.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.1

17. Sex Innocent 1.3

18. Violence Fierce 2.5

19. Rudeness Salty 2.4

21. Reality

    Supernatural 3.6

    Supernatural fakery aside, The Hunger Games has always been most fascinating because of its political underpinnings. This third installment confirms it as a political stew that is Roman more than anything. However, 21st Century audiences will judge it by contemporary norms, not those from 2,000 years ago.

    Like any massive political phenomenon, it is ambiguous enough to appeal to people from across the political spectrum. For instance, those of the Right and the Left can each see their political opposition in the Capitol, home to the villainous overlords of the story. From the left, the Capitol is a mere definite article away from Capital, aka, wealth. But the denizens of the Capitol look and act like art and fashion One Percenters, who are most indubitably of the Left. Further, the Capitol exerts its power through a Central Government that controls the economy and the media, which is also a manifestation of the Left.

    Finally, Mockingjay’s exploration of video advertising for mass consumption is its most thought provoking and au courant element. This “PR stunting” promises to be further exploited in Mockingjay – Part 2.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 3.0

23. Biological Supernatural 3.6

24. Physical Fantasy 4.1