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You Say You Want a Revolution? A Roundup of 'Mockingjay — Part 1' Reviews

The Hunger Games Mockingjay
The Hunger Games Mockingjay

Liam Hemsworth (left) and Lawrence lead a rebel army in Mockingjay

The time for revolution is at hand, and film critics are eager to get on with it. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 is receiving mixed-to-positive reviews, with the general consensus that the penultimate Hunger Games movie just doesn’t feel complete on its own.Part 1 is a likable preamble, a moment to let the flames die down before adding more fuel,” Henry Barnes writes in The Guardian. “This dutiful, glumly atmospheric placeholder feels like a long, extended inhale: a collective ‘Here we go’ before the last triumphant hurrah,” writes the Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday. Time’s Richard Corliss adds, “If The Hunger Games series were an actual dystopian reality show now available on DVD, Mockingjay Part 1 would be the making-of extra.”

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That said, some critics feel that the political content of Mockingjay — Part 1, which follows Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) as she embraces her role as rebel leader, brings new depth and relevancy to the franchise. Mockingjay — Part 1 is still very much a Hunger Games movie, yes, but it calls to mind smart political comedies like Wag the Dogand Tanner ‘88 as well,” writes Alonso Duralde in The Wrap. USA Today’s Claudia Puig goes further, calling this film “the absorbing and best of the series,” with “a timeliness lacking in the others.”

As always, the lion’s share of critical praise goes to actress Jennifer Lawrence, on whose shoulders lies the entire Hunger Games juggernaut. “Although [Lawrence] has less to do on the action front… her Katniss remains the most compellingly human fixture of this dystopian landscape, even when the psychological toll of her sufferings push the performance into a shriekier, more desperate emotional register than before,” writes Variety’s Justin Chang. “Lawrence gives [her scenes] stirring, vibrant life, particularly a nighttime bombing raid on an enormous river dam,” says Richard Lawson at Vanity Fair. “The vague larger world of The Hunger Games is waking up, and Lawrence has the sense to know when to pull back and show us just how big a thing a humble girl like Katniss has inspired.”

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Even if audiences love Mockingjay — Part 1, critics warn that they may leave unsatisfied. “When the story finally does manage to get interesting toward the end, it just screeches to a halt and cuts off, leaving fans wriggling on the hook for a finale they won’t get to see for another 12 months,” writes EW’s Chris Nashawaty. “That’s not a cliff-hanger, that’s just a tease.” Or, in the words of Us Weekly’s Mara Reinstein: “All smoke, no Girl on Fire.”

Want to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1? Visit our Showtimes page to get tickets.

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Photo: AP