I finally (yes, finally, the day after it was released) made it to the Lincoln Center AMC today with a girlfriend to see Mockingjay: Part 1 today. I declined to re-read the book because I remember being very critical of Catching Fire after seeing it (and re-reading it) because I could pick out exactly what they changed. So: No. Not this time. I was sad this movie was only going to be two hours and not two and a half hours like the other two. Oh well. 

Anyways: We sat down in a packed movie theatre and everything began. I’d heard from a couple of coworkers that it was extremely dark. I’d also read that they sort of glossed over Katniss’ mental instability. I found the movie to be incredibly dark, but I also found Katniss to be extremely unstable and very affected by her experiences in the games. 

Jennifer Lawrence totally killed it, again. Her emotional intensity was gripping. Since I didn’t remember the books entirely, it was nice to be surprised (again) and I was white-knuckling on my arm rest during a few intense parts. There were parts that made me hold my breath and parts that had me in tears (District 4’s rebellion!). It was also chilling to see Philip Seymour Hoffman onscreen. 

I won’t say much more except that I thought it was excellent and I can’t wait to go see it again. I also can’t believe we have to wait another year for Part 2. 

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