Film Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. Rated M (mature themes and violence). 123 minutes. Directed by Francis Lawrence. Screenplay by Peter Craig and Danny Strong. Based on the novel by Suzanne Collins.

Verdict: A bloated outing for the first of the two-part cinematic climax to The Hunger Games.

Beginning where The Hunger Games: Catching Fire left us, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) has been relocated to District 13, a rebel-held underground fortress, to recover from the Games. It is in District 13 that the rebellion against The Capitol is overseen by President Coin (Julianne Moore) and Plutarch Heavensbee (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, to whom the film is dedicated).

Knowing Katniss is capable of inspiring people to rise up against The Capitol’s President Snow (Donald Sutherland), Coin invites her to assume the title of ‘Mockingjay’, a symbol of the rebellion. Once she witnesses the extent of the destruction inflicted on the Districts, Katniss agrees to take on the responsibility, but only if the brain-washed Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), who Snow is using a weapon to destroy Katniss' influence over the rebels, is rescued from The Capitol and reunited with her.

Whether it is because the final book in the trilogy is being turned into two films (a trend that began with The Hobbit, then the Harry Potter and Twilight films), or that there are not actually any sequences involving the infamous Games, Mockingjay – Part 1 is a mostly forgettable affair. While it ramps up the tension and the action in the second half, much of the first half ambles along in a bloated, self-satisfied manner that is completely at odds with its cinematic pedigree.

Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Water for Elephants, I Am Legend, Constantine) and the always excellent Jennifer Lawrence work wonders with the material’s limited range. And while it might be long time to have waited, the final sequences between Peeta and Katniss are extraordinarily powerful, with Hutcherson bringing real acting clout to the screen for the first, and possibly only, time in the entire movie.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Pride

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Pride. Rated M (mature themes, coarse language, sexual reference and brief nudity). 120 minutes. Directed by Matthew Warchus. Screenplay by Stephen Beresford.

Verdict: A life-changing tale, brilliantly told.

If a film were to exist that is so entirely of its time, then this perfect example of a big-hearted and important story, brilliantly told, is it. Beresford’s superb screenplay crashes through and dismantles preconceptions, hate, suspicion, bigotry and prejudice one scene at a time, before reaching an overwhelming zenith in its final sequence that is guaranteed to melt even the hardest of hearts.

Based on actual events, Pride tells the story of an unlikely alliance between a group of gay and lesbian activists in London and the small mining community of Onllwyn in Wales, who are struggling to survive the crippling effects of the 1984 UK miners’ strike. Realising the media, the police, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher are their common enemies, the mining families and the activists attempt to find common ground in the hope that together, they might triumph in the face of soul-destroying adversity.

While it certainly owes a debt to Billy Elliott and The Full Monty, Pride stands alone in the way it unites seemingly disparate threads and contradictory agendas to fulfil its grand storytelling ambitions.

One example of Beresford’s many illuminating juxtapositions is the personal toll the effects of both the strike and the HIV/AIDS pandemic are having on two very different communities. Why, in the face of such a deadly virus, one character asks, should members of the gay community care about the extent to which the miners and their families are suffering?

The result, under Warchus’ inspired direction of his exceptional cast, is that we are constantly challenged to hold on to what we believe is important. That you just might leave the cinema with your belief system tipped on its head is only one of the many surprising gifts this extraordinary film provides.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Interstellar

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Interstellar. Rated M (science fiction themes and infrequent coarse language). 169 minutes. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan

Verdict: In space nothing is as it seems.

There are a number of massive holes in the Nolan brothers’ extraordinary labour of love, and they are (not in any particular order) wormholes, black holes and plot holes. But none of Interstellar’s flaws (of which its long running time is one) come close to ruining the effectiveness of this magnificent, entirely immersive cinematic experience.

Earth is almost uninhabitable, and NASA’s scientists believe the only way to ensure the human race doesn’t become extinct is to resettle on another planet. Previous astronauts have failed to return from searching for likely candidates, so the job of travelling through the wormhole to distant galaxies falls to Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), Amelia (Anne Hathaway), Doyle (Wes Bentley) and Romilly (David Gyasi). What they discover will forever change the way time, space and the possibilities for our future are comprehended.

Nolan (The DarkKnight Rises, Inception, The Dark Knight) cements his reputation as one of the most imaginative directors at work in film today. Together with cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema and frequent collaborator, Production Designer Nathan Crowley, Nolan creates sequences of often jaw-dropping wonder.

The performances from Nolan’s deeply committed ensemble are excellent, with McConaughey in particular delivering yet another superb performance of immense emotional and psychological range.

Kip Thorne’s theories about astrophysics play out here as a multitude of theories about the time/space continuum on the edges of, and within, our solar system, but Interstellar’s genuine emotional clout involves the value of family. And as the dazzling visuals begin to fade from memory, it is the scenes between Cooper and his daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy, Jessica Chastain and Ellen Burstyn share the role) that make the important and lasting impressions.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.