Okay, let’s talk about trilogies. Ever since the Star Wars original, they have been box office gold. If the trilogy is good, then that third one is worth the wait. If that second movie isn’t so good, the third one still gets money because people think: “this probably won’t be good, so let’s just get this over with”.

So what do I think about the third film of the Hunger Games trilogy? Well, technically, it isn’t the third film, just part 1 of the third and final book. So yeah, I have to wait until next year to see how this all ends, or I could just read the book. But here’s the thing: I did read the book, and I barely remember it. I think at the time I wanted to get the third book over with because the first and second book of this series are pretty similar as they both feature a…wait for it…Hunger Games.

So how can one fairly evaluate The Hunger Games? It really is hard to rate something that has a huge following. Suzanne Collins’ book series has as a big a following of teenage girls that is up there with Twilight. I’m not certain if I’ll review that series, ever. Everyone on the Internet seems to hate Twilight, so I don’t really want to join them. There are similar feelings about The Hunger Games series.

I’ve got to judge Mockingjay Part 1 purely by what I saw on screen. As you might recall from my Catching Fire review, I was impressed by it. If you aren’t familiar with The Hunger Games, it is about a future world where reality TV is a bunch of kids killing each other. In Catching Fire, the main character, Katniss Everdeen had to face another Hunger Games, but escapes at the end of this championship match. In Mockingjay, Katniss is seen as a personification of hope to all the people who are rebelling against the tyranny.

It is an interesting premise for this story. Just imagine if in Star Wars, if the Rebels turned Luke Skywalker into a poster boy for their cause against the Imperials. Yeah, this is pretty much all that is going on in this film, and I would have to say that most of the action takes place off-screen. That is, the story of Mockingjay isn’t about just Katniss anymore, but is about how the war against the upper class is being fought.

For example, there is a scene where the main characters are in a bomb shelter, and a fleet of bombers attacks. We really don’t see the attack, just how the sheltered people react.

The biggest storyline seems to be what happened to Peeta. He’s one point in the Katniss love triangle, and it looks like the tyrannical government got into his head, maybe. Gayle is the other guy, and he is actually willing to risk his life to save Peeta.

I have to admit that Mockingjay Part 1 didn’t end very well, and it reminds me of the ending of the second Hobbit movie. We’ll be discussing that next week.