A few weeks ago brought about a largely defining moment in many young adults’ lives; a moment that everyone has been waiting for. Okay, maybe not everyone, but a fair chunk of people across the world have been wanting to see this trailer for a very long time. The first half of the final whole to the “The Hunger Games” trilogy-turned-quadrilogy is released this November. With that moment rapidly approaching (or not so rapidly depending where you fall on the fan-scale), the final full trailer for “Mockingjay: Part I” has been released!
All joking aside, I am a huge fan of this franchise. When it was first announced that the third book would be released into two films, it felt more like a gimmick than anything. I’m sure it still probably is, but seeing as how the third book was the most daunting to get through due to the lack of action, this could actually work to its’ benefit. See, with book-to-film adaptations, so much of the book has to be cut due to the running time of the film (amongst other reasons, of course). However, with this story in particular, they can just cut all the boring crap and stretch out those action scenes as much as they need to, while still filling in the gaps with important story and plot details. That’s my theory of the approach based on this trailer. DISCLAIMER: I’m about to go full-blown nerd, so if you haven’t read the books or seen the previous films, you may be a little lost by the end of this.
Right off the bat, we are faced with an even darker world than what we’ve seen in the first two films. A heartstring-pulling voiceover from Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) has her confronting the enemy saying she never wanted any of this to happen and that she simply wanted to save her family. This is especially strong to start off with in this trailer because it reminds us of the simple life that Katniss has come from, and what she’s gone through to get to where she is. Then, along comes President Snow (Donald Sutherland) saying somethin’ like “You suck, Katniss, we’re gonna kill everyone you love!” (I’m paraphrasing). Anyway, what we take away most from this trailer is that Katniss really wants to get her lover Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) back from the grips of the evil Capitol, run by Snow. When she finds out Peeta is alive, after being held captive, she makes it her mission to get him back. All of this is followed by several shots of Katniss in the newly formed District 13 becoming the symbol of the revolution, known as the “Mockingjay,” taking charge, giving hope to the hopeless and blowing things up with her amped up bow-and-arrow bomb combo thing. This makes for what should be an action-packed Part I; hence my initial theory of “out with the boring and in with the guns blowing up futuristic aircrafts.” Overall, it could have been a tad better, as it didn’t quite reach the chill-inducing level that I hoped for. However, it does ratchet up the stakes and makes for some seriously exciting, thematic entertainment while maintaining human and relatable characters.
Any other “Mockingnerds” out there ready for this to hit theatres like NOW-ish?! Well, we have to wait until November 21st, but it will be worth it!
