On Fri., Nov. 21, the highly anticipated sequel to the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay: Part One, premiered in theaters across America. The novel-based movie is the third film to be added to the series, but it is just the first half of the original book smashed into a 123-minute film.

The sequel carries on from where the second film of the series, Catching Fire, left off. The final scenes of Catching Fire left the crowd on the edge of their seats as Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and her alliance beat the system if their world’s government, also known The Capital, and were saved by mixture of so-called enemies and friends. In Mockingjay, Katniss arrives in District 13, which was supposed to have been wiped out decades before her time. The film follows Katniss’s journey to becoming the symbolic image of the “mockingjay,” a fictional bird that repeats the sounds it hears, for the District revolution against The Capital. Along with her transformation into a rebellion leader Katniss also faces the complication with her love triangle between her fellow tribute, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), and her childhood best friend, Gale (Liam Hemsworth).

This movie stayed accurate to the book in majority of its scenes. Mino necessary changes were made to make the film adaptation a bit more understandable. Director Francis Lawrence takes the audience on a fantastical journey through a growing rebellion by building the tone through scenery such as the demolished area of District 12 where Lawrence made it an eerie sight to look at. The grey skulls and baked and broken buildings gave the scenes a grave feeling that contributed to empathy of the audience.
A weakness of the film had to be the quality of the characters appearance. The minor things, such as the wigs, were completely obvious which gave the movie more of a “fake” appearance. Although the movie is of a fictional fantasy genre, the effects and costumes purpose was to make it seem real and believable but it did not give the realistic feeling it was intended to.

Lawrence portrayed the book adaptation accurately with minor flaws and Hunger Games fans are already impatiently waiting for the next sequel. Lawrence will also direct the second part of the film, which will be released on Nov. 20, 2015.