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

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
HitfixDrew McWeenyNov 18, 2014
The film explores the way propaganda is used to set the stage for a conflict, and considering this is a mainstream franchise aimed primarily at young audiences, it's actually a pretty interesting take on how image matters as much as action in a media age. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'HehirNov 20, 2014
A penultimate chapter without a real ending, but it’s also a thrilling ride full of potent emotions, new characters and major twists of fate, built around another commanding star performance. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia PuigNov 20, 2014
It's easily the most political of the three films. It also is the most absorbing and best in the series. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallNov 20, 2014
With Mock 1, the Hunger Games franchise continues to entertain and evolve, not perfectly but smartly, so we can't wait to see what's next. That's what counts when all is said, done and deposited in the bank. Read full review
83
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeNov 10, 2014
Suffice it to say that while Mockingjay, Part 1 might not be as consistently thrilling as “Catching Fire” — the second movie always has the luxury of being all PB&J and no crust — it's the movie equivalent of a page-turner, consistently suspenseful and filled with surprises and illuminating character moments. Read full review
80
The DissolveGenevieve KoskiNov 20, 2014
The trifecta of Lawrence, Moore, and Hoffman is the movie’s driving force, from both a plot and performance perspective. Together, they imbue Mockingjay with a sense of gravity and significance befitting its tough themes. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNov 17, 2014
A part with this much sobbing, hand-wringing, and mournful gazing into the middle distance could be, in the wrong hands, a laugh riot, but Lawrence’s instincts are so smart that she never goes even a shade overboard. She’s a hell of an actress. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeNov 11, 2014
While it definitely takes its foot off the action, Mockingjay – Part 1 goes deeper and darker. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyNov 10, 2014
With measure and muscle, Lawrences Jennifer and Francis nail the job of selling the long, twisting road towards revolution. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaNov 20, 2015
If Mockingjay - Part 1 is quieter and less flashy than its predecessors, that doesn't make it less satisfying. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanNov 20, 2015
This installment substitutes psychological action for physical thrills. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 21, 2014
What's missing from Mockingjay - Part 1 is a strong through-story. The previous films were characterized by engrossing, well-constructed story arcs but Mockingjay - Part 1 meanders. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsNov 20, 2014
Although it doesn’t make a lick of sense as a stand-alone story, Mockingjay — Part 1 is the first “Hunger Games” movie with meat on its bones. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezNov 20, 2014
Dark, grim and exciting entertainment. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 20, 2014
Delivers the dazzle without sacrificing the smarts. The suspense is killer. Ditto the thrill of the hunt. The film uses the extra time to, of all things, develop characters and give this dystopian fable a human scale. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 20, 2014
Not everything in “Mockingjay” is dynamic or remarkable. Director Lawrence, working from Peter Craig and Danny Strong's screenplay, occasionally mistakes somnambulance for solemnity. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 19, 2014
Ultimately, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 serves as solid if unspectacular first lap around the track of a two-lap race. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineRichard Scott LarsonNov 19, 2014
As a metaphor for the way we respond to the media, and the way our politics are funneled through the media lens, the film succeeds most when it revels in ambiguity. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthNov 19, 2014
It's rare to see any blockbuster in any genre make decisions informed and driven by character, rather than by the more superficial requirements of blockbuster entertainment, but the rewards in that regard are plentiful in Mockingjay. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 20, 2014
As smart as this film is about image-making in the age of all-pervasive media, the theme threatens to wear thin until Katniss comes to a new and moving awareness of her power, not just as a figurehead fashioned and elaborately feathered by political consultants but as a source of authentic inspiration to her shattered nation. Read full review
70
SlateDana StevensNov 20, 2014
If Mockingjay’s placeholder status is a little too evident in its choppy, shapeless structure, this dark third chapter does have stretches of somber beauty. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 20, 2014
The script for Mockingjay Part 1, credited to Peter Craig and Danny Strong, gets the job done, but the performers matter far more than the words they deliver. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 19, 2014
Director Francis Lawrence does a nice job capturing the claustrophobic environment of District 13 and has a good eye for action shots. But the actors are what really sell the movie. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonNov 18, 2014
If you break the script down into plot points, it sounds a little silly: The narrative thrust is simply Katniss shooting several pro-revolution commercials. But it works because we're fascinated by media fights — thousands occur online every day. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangNov 10, 2014
For all its obvious smarts and mildly provocative ideas, Mockingjay doesn’t seem to trust its audience quite as much as it clearly trusts its heroine. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Nov 19, 2014
It’s good for business but bad for drama, and the inelegantly titled Mockingjay—Part 1 suffers from an unavoidable sense of anticlimax. It doesn’t build to an ending so much as just eventually grind to a halt, like a video game demanding more quarters to continue playing. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyNov 19, 2014
The biggest problem with the new Hunger Games movie is right there in the title: Part 1. Mockingjay, the final installment in Suzanne Collins' best-selling YA trilogy, wasn't conceived in two parts. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzNov 21, 2014
The problem is, for all its surface intelligence, "Mockingjay, Part 1" has little depth, and that sometimes makes it much more frustrating than a more knowingly shallow and silly movie might have been. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 19, 2014
It’s a joyless, surpassingly dour enterprise, but one that fulfills its mission with Katniss’s own eagle-eyed efficiency and unsentimental somberness. Read full review
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
38
New York PostLou LumenickNov 19, 2014
Hopefully Jennifer Lawrence will actually be given something worthwhile to do next time around. That would actually be worth paying to see. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 20, 2014
Only in the movie business could someone sell such shoddy merchandise and expect people to buy it. If The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 were an appliance, it would be a broken toaster that people would toss in the garbage. Except that analogy is too kind, in that “Mockingjay” would be half a toaster. Read full review
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