"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1" Film Adaptation, Directed by Francis Lawrence
November 21, 2014. 7:30 PM, Reagle Cinema
That was the date that I've been waiting for weeks for.
Mockingjay Part 1.
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Unlike most people, Mockingjay is my favorite book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
Mockingjay?
Yes, Mockingjay.
I was waiting for November 21, 2014 all year, knowing that there was no way that I would see it the day it came out, but still hoping.
Well, my best friend, Mary, proved me wrong!
Two weeks prior to its release, I was laying in bed scrolling through countless Instagram posts when I recieved a text from Mary asking if I could come see Mockingjay Part 1 with her the day it came out.
I asked my mom and she said it was okay, so I texted Mary back in all caps, "YAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
A few days later while we were texting, she sent me a picture of a computer screen and her text read, "MY MOM JUST PREORDERED THE TICKETS!!!!!"
I was estatic and wouldn't leave her alone with all of my texts afterwards.
Shortly after, it was November 20, 2014. I was at my dad's house that night so Mary and I were FaceTiming for a looooong time, each of us talking non-stop about how awesome Mockingjay Part 1 was going to be. Hours we FaceTimed, mainly just talking nonsense. It didn't matter, though, we were both estatic and couldn't believe that we were actually going the next day.
Eventually, the next day, we both wore all of our Hunger Games fandom merch to school. My hair was in pigtail braids, we both wore our Mockingjay pins, I wore my multifandom shirt, she wore her Hunger Games shirt, we wore combat boots, I had my bow and arrow bracelet on, and we each had a Mockingjay pin drawn in pen from Mary and black, yellow, and orange hairties on our right wrist to represent flames.
I went to her house after school where she did my makeup and she put on her Katniss lanyard and let me borrow her Peeta I.D. to clip onto my wallet. We were pumped. The entire way there, we were both babbling on and on about how excited we were.
After what seemed like the longest car ride ever, we stepped into Reagle Cinema at 6:30. Mary spotted the Mockingjay Part 1 poster and we both squealed and ran over to take pictures in front of it. Then, we went to the photo booth and each purchased a photo strip of the craziest poses.
After tucking the photo strip into my right boot, I bought a large popcorn for the feels and food and a medium Cococola. Mary was right infront of me and bought a small popcorn and small soda.
We finally stepped into the theater a little before 7:00 PM. I started chowing down on my popcorn during the commercials beforehand.
Katniss suddenly appeared on the huge screen at 7:45 PM. I started shaking and focused entirely on the screen, stealing a quick glance at Mary, a huge smile plastered manically across my face. I redirected my attention to the extremely talented, Jennifer Shrader Lawrence acting as Katniss Everdeen. A little later, Joshua Ryan Hutcherson pops onto the screen as Peeta Mellark with Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman sitting across from him in an identical chair. I started to softly cry in ever single scene in which Peeta was in.
Finally, the end of Mockingjay Part 1 was nearing. The rebels had just accomplished their rescue mission and Katniss enters the hospital room in which Peeta has been placed in.
I start to sob and hyperventilate as Katniss steps over the threshold to Peeta, knowing what occurs next. He swipes the doctors away and rushes towards Katniss when his fingers lock around her throat. He doesn't let go of her neck as her smashes through glass, tumbles onto the floor, and if eventually smacked in the head with a chair from Mahershala Ali acting as Boggs.
The next scene comes directly after with Katniss laying down with a collar around her neck from her previous encounter with hijacked Peeta. The first word that comes out of her mouth is, "Peeta." This scene comes and goes, then Julianne Moore as President Alma Coin starts reading a speech about the victors being granted immunity.
The final scene came. Peeta was restrained in a hospital bed as he tried to fight his restraints, screaming through the sound proof glass.
Then, the credits began to roll.
Sobbing hysterically and hyperventilating, I am the only sound in the entire theater, sobbing in my popcorn bucket amplifys the sound as I do it, then take my head out of the bucket when I discovered that.
The makeup that Mary insisted on putting on me, smeared my tear-filled face.
I was sobbing the entire ending until we entered the bathroom to go before we left.
I never cried that hard in my lifetime, and I never cried at a movie before. A great movie causes great emotions. Not knowing how awesome the movie would be, I didn't have extremely high expectations, but Mockingjay Part 1 went beyond anything that I would ever expect for a book to movie adaptation. There wasn't many changes in the film, but the ones that were present were for better or for worse, I'll let you decide that.
Francis Lawrence did the best job at directing this film and I couldn't ask for better actors than JLaw as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, Willow Shields as Primrose, Liam Hemsworth as Liam, Natalie Dormer as Cressida, etc. Every actor did amazing and I couldn't ask for a better adaptation than this, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire were both very accurate, but being that Mockingjay is my favorite novel in the series, Mockingjay Part 1 was perfect.
Now, I can't wait to see Mockingjay Part 2 with Mary on November 20, 2015, wearing more fandom merch now that I purchased and recieved so much more this past holiday season.
RATE: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
