But once the Capitol deploys a bombing mission to wipe out the Alliance, the film stands on shakier ground. The Alliance's slogan is born, quickly followed by a theme song (sung by Katniss). ![]() Crispin's rally, all caught and broadcast by Cressida's camera team. Katniss's architected studio speech turns into her own, ad-libbed Henry V St. ![]() But once Katniss has made a moving journey through the district's makeshift morgue and hospital, in come bombers to make a horrific statement. It's decided she'd be more effective in the field and so a PR team led by Cressida (Natalie Dormer, HBO's 'Game of Thrones "Rush") take her to District 8, which has no more targets left for the Capitol to hit. I always find it fascinating to watch a good actor play at bad acting and Lawrence pulls this off with aplomb in Plutarch's first, green-screened attempt at a 'propo' piece. Coin rejects her demands - that Peeta, Johanna Mason (Jena Malone) and Annie Cresta (Stef Dawson) be rescued and pardoned (and Prim get to keep her cat, Buttercup) - but Plutarch makes a convincing argument and Coin relents. When she learns that Heavensbee has pitched her to Coin as the face of the revolution, the personification of the Mockingjay, Katniss wants no part of it, only desperate for Peeta's return. But many are dead, including Cinna, and many of the tributes are now in Snow's control. We are welcomed along with her to the astonishing new world of an organized rebellion, including well placed Capitol insiders like Plutarch Heavensbee (Hoffman). When Katniss comes to after her surprise rescue at the close of "Catching Fire," her only concern is for Peeta. These last two installments also give us the gift of the last performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, in fine cheeky form sparring with his "Boogie Nights" costar Julianne Moore as the Alliance's President Alma Coin. "The Hunger Games" has turned into a cliff hanger serial with long waits for the next installment, but the overall quality of the cast and production still earn it a grudging respect. "Mockingjay - Part 1" is all about war and the propaganda that spurs revolution, and while it's effective, driven by an actress who's giving as much in this role as she has in her Oscar-nominated ones, the decision to chop Suzanne Collin's third and final book in her trilogy into two parts only stretches the action out enough to highlight plot inconsistencies which otherwise might have been swept under the rug. ![]() After the pageantry and exotic dangers of the Games in "Catching Fire," this time returning director Francis Lawrence ("The Hunger Games: Catching Fire") has gone all gray, grimy and dark.
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