You understand? I don't. The books The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mocking Jay are all the same length as each other and the first two managed to be two hours long so I see no reason why the third had to be split up.
lexicon: That's because every YA book adaptation HAS to be split in two parts, no matter how pointless it seems. (and frankly, it's the best excuse to make more money)
I'm not crazy, just creatively different.
Mockingjay is more event rich. Most of what happens in The Hunger Games is character development or backstory. Most of what happens in Catching Fire is...nothing?
Most of Mockingjay, is fairly crucial, or at least difficult enough that it can't be simplified. You have to establish Coin as a character and District 13 as character, enough that you can have opinions of them and then justify the ending. You need to show Snow losing his reason as he becomes more personally obsessed with Katniss. You need to show Katniss struggling under the weight of whats happening. You need the rebellions and how Katniss' attitude changes towards the rebellions, you need to show the change in Prim. Peeta has a huge and complicated arc to go through.
And that's just the first half, for the second half you have the entire assault, the results of the war etc.
I don't think you could have had one film that fully went through the changes to Peeta and still have a time to also follow Coin in what she does. And if you squeezed both in, you'd have no time for Katniss.
Most of the character development in the first two books goes "One character is like this, then something happens and they change into this sort of person". In Mockinjay it goes "One character is like this, then something happens and they change into this sort of person, and then everyone reacts to their change and slowly overtime they become this sort of person"
It was definitely made because of some corporate business decision and not because of the needs of the screenwriters, but the difference between Mockinjay and The Hobbit/Harry Potter etc, is that those other films needed to make up new events to stretch out their runtimes. They don't add anything new to Mockinjay, it's all events that happen in the books (and it only covers about half of the book. They don't even get to the District 4 rebellion). Sure they could've and probably would've made it one film, but I'm glad they didn't
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Fantastic but Flawed
SPOILERS
Mockingjay: Part 1, the first part of the Hunger Games finale, is, in one word, great. But I won't say that it's perfect. The graphics, scenery, and acting are great, with flaws. I won't go on about the differences between them movie and the book since there's really no point and mostly everything left out didn't do much to the book's plot either.
Jennifer Lawrence does fantastic as Katniss Everdeen as ever. The performances by Phillip Seymour Hoffman (may he rest in peace) and Julianne Moore are nothing short of amazing. Julianne Moore in particular brings President Alma Coin to life, giving her more character than a stone-cold ruler as in the books, but without ruining her personality.
The movie itself receives most of its criticisms from its slow pace compared to its predecessors. Mockingjay has more of a dark, slow feel to it instead of an action-packed, upbeat feel that we got from the Games. It's not necessarily bad, just a bit of a lag when you compare it to the faster plots of the first two movies. Some parts are dragged on, some are too short, but that's seen in every movie. The story also does a marvelous job of expanding the plot. In the books, we only see things playing out in Katniss's point of view. Here, we see how President Snow is managing and how the other Districts are faring in the rebellion. "The Hanging Tree" sequence is of stunning display, and bless your soul if you don't enjoy it in the slightest.
My main issue with this film is...well...
Alright, I'll say it simply: Mockingjay isn't the kind of plot to have a good dividing point for a sequel. Now, I understand why they had to put the finale into two films, as a single result would leave us watching it for five hours and still have the plot rushed. The movie couldn't really dodge this bullet. There was no way to have a satisfactory ending because the book never provides a point to do so. So, yes, I'm upset with the way this film ended, but it really was unavoidable.
So, yes, go see this movie if you're a fan of The Hunger Games series, just don't expect to leave the theater satisfied.