The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014)

I never really liked the last book in general. This movie focuses on the propaganda aspect of the rebellion. Not much happens story-wise besides filling in what happened to District 13 and what happened in the aftermath of the previous film. There are some cool new actor additions but it is not enough to make this one as good as the first two. The selling point for the series was the hunger games. This puts all of the story into the rebellion group. The good parts of the fightback all happen in the next movie. It fills out the story overall but does not stand alone in regard to the film saga. It may have been better to make a 3-hour finale rather than two 2-hour films. Studios need to make that money though.

Story - 18%

Characters - 17%

Pacing - 16%

Spectacle - 18%

Entertainment - 17%

Total score: 86%

Grade scale:

90%-100% = must watch

80%-89% = solid, but could be better

70%-79% = Not terrible, watch if the characters or story interests you

60%-69% = only watch for completionist reasons

0%-59% = just skip it, I find the positives and they don't exist here