The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)

Mockingjay Part 1 is a 123-minute trailer for Part 2. The last book got split in half, and you can feel exactly where they sliced it, because not much happens on this side of the cut. Most of the movie is people in a gray concrete bunker watching TV, then making TV, then watching the TV they made. The good news is that the TV-making part is actually smart. Katniss shooting propaganda clips and flubbing her lines is funny and a little creepy, and Julianne Moore plays President Coin with such calm control that you can’t tell if she’s a hero or a future problem. Jennifer Lawrence sings one quiet, eerie song and it’s the best minute in the movie. Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as always. But the action is thin, the big stakes stay offscreen, and the ending just sort of stops. A 5.3 because half a story is still half a story. $162 says next time you rewatch the series you skip straight to Part 2 and miss nothing.

What works: The propaganda-video scenes are sharp satire, and Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman make the war room interesting.

What doesn’t: Splitting the book leaves this half with thin action, little payoff and an ending that just stops instead of landing.

Who it’s for: Series fans doing a full rewatch who want every scene of the rebellion, even the slow ones.