The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
Lionsgate | Release Date: November 21, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
15
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 20, 2014
Though everyone tries her or his hardest to make it otherwise, this is by definition a place-holder film that exists not so much for itself but to smooth the transition from its hugely successful predecessors to a presumably glorious finale one year hence. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraNov 11, 2014
The drama and tone are powerful and effective and Lawrence makes an exceptionally charismatic heroine, but an almost total lack of action means this is less catching fire than treading water. Read full review
60
The GuardianHenry BarnesNov 10, 2014
Director Francis Laurence ekes a paltry story out. The special effects are limp and the script a little creaky, although somehow it still manages to thrill. Read full review
60
CineVuePatrick GambleNov 10, 2014
Collins' revolutionary-lite rhetoric has become unravelled by the commercially driven decision to split the final novel into two films - ultimately lessening the satirical bite and reverting to the very gender archetypes it originally sought to challenge. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinNov 10, 2014
Mockingjay – Part 1 is all queue, no roller-coaster. The third of four films in the successful and admirable Hunger Games series is any number of good things: intense, stylish, topical, well-acted. But the one thing it could never be called is satisfying. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianJeff BakerNov 20, 2014
The best part of "Mockingjay -- Part 1" is when Katniss sings "The Hanging Tree." Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyNov 20, 2014
That makes Mockingjay – Part 1 an experience to be endured, like a prison sentence, rather than enjoyed. By all means, bring on the revolution: It has to be more exciting than this. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 20, 2014
As it is, “Mockingjay,” a big bore, suffers from being the transitional event before the big showdown. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 20, 2014
It’s a cheat, a cash grab, and it makes for 125 dystopian minutes of set-up with no resolution. But come back next November, folks, and we’ll show you the rest! They should have called it “Mockingjay, Part 1 — The Shakedown.” Or “The Hunger Games 3: Rubble Without a Cause.” Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesNov 19, 2014
The movie lumbers on some more, reiterating the obvious and relying on overfamiliar imagery. Audiences have a long year to wait for Part 2. Would it not have been better to leave them breathless than heaving a sigh? Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreNov 19, 2014
It’s not a bad film, this first-half of the concluding chapter of “The Hunger Games.” But it is, from first scene to last, just a tedious good-looking set-up for what one might hope would be a more lively, and perhaps better lit and ventilated finale. Read full review
50
TimeRichard CorlissNov 18, 2014
Though we still believe that Lawrence, who turned 25 in August, can do no wrong, she isn’t given much opportunity to do anything spectacularly right here. Her performance is a medley of sobs and gasps, in mournful or radiant closeup. This time, her Katniss is as much a prisoner of her circumstances as Peeta is. She and the movie are both victims of burnout. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyNov 10, 2014
Unfortunately, Mockingjay — Part 1 has all the personality of an industrial film. There's not a drop of insolence, insubordination or insurrection running through its veins; it feels like a manufactured product through and through, ironic and sad given its revolutionary theme. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNov 20, 2014
With no real beginning and no real ending, the unsatisfying "Mockingjay Part 1" is essentially all middle -- one big, stretched out, watered-down second act. The result is a handsome film, but also a talky one that takes a while to hit its storytelling stride and that, once there, repeatedly stalls to fill time. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNov 19, 2014
There is a serious lack of action here, which might be overlooked if the script were as smart as in the previous films. What passes for parable here is merely overplotting. Read full review
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