The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part One

After a rousing second chapter, The Hunger Games franchise gets a little darker and introverted in its third installment. The results are perhaps a slight step back from the truly winning film that was Catching Fire, but you are still dealing with a good movie in this one. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), after being rescued following her complete annihilation of The Hunger Games, is being used as a propaganda tool to get at the evil Capitol government and its wily leader, President Snow (Donald Sutherland). As it turns out, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) survived the second movie, and is being used as a propaganda tool, as well (He's being held captive by the Capitol). A lot of this movie takes place underground and in the dark, with a few good action sequences. It should be said that this only covers half of the third book in the popular series, and everything builds up to quite the cliffhanger ending. Lawrence is good here, although a couple of scenes are a bit jarring and not in a good way. She does get a chance to sing, and she sings quite well. Philip Seymour Hoffman completed his role before his death, and he's typically great.