THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKING JAY PART 1

Continuing from last year's part 2 of the Trilogy, this first half of the final part was not as entertaining for me as the earlier one.

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland etc, Katniss woke up from an underground rebel facility in District 13 where she was reunited with her mother and sister and was introduced to President Alma Coin, who was leading her army of rebels to fight the war with the Capitol. Alma wanted Katniss to be the face of the mocking jay as a symbol of the rebellion, to unite all the districts together to fight a common war. Katniss was not convinced of the cause of it but relented when President Alma Coin agreed to her request to save Peeta and the other victors from the clutches of President Coriolanus Snow of Panem.

A visit to her District 12 showed Katniss the devastation brought on to her home by President Snow for her success in thwarting the 75th Hunger Games and destroying the competition arena and uniting the Districts in staging a rebellion against the Capitol. A series of videos were broadcast to the Districts and Katniss was once again received by the other Districts as the symbol of the mass rebellion. The Capitol retaliated by releasing recordings of a brainwashed Peeta, who pleaded with Katniss and the Districts to give up their rebellious quests to destroy the Capitol. When Katniss realized that Peeta's life was on the line, they made a desperate attempt to rescue Peeta and the victors in a dangerous mission to break into the Capitol's Tribute Centre.

Peeta and the others were easily and successfully extricated from their prison, without any resistance of the Capitol, much to the surprise of the rescue team. When Peeta woke up, he attacked the delighted Katniss savagely and strangled her to unconsciousness, but not before he too was knocked unconscious. It was only revealed then to the awoken Katniss that Peeta was brainwashed by the Capitol through aversion therapy and tracker jacker venom, which fueled his desire to kill Katniss. As Katniss tread cautiously in anticipation and fear towards the treatment room where Peeta was kept, she was horrified to find him struggling like an erratic person against the tight reins that held him to his bed.

The movie ended with President Coin announcing the successful rescue of the victors to the surviving residents of District 13.

Plutarch, President Coin and Gale

President Snow taunting Katniss with white roses wherever she went

DIVERGENT

When I watched this movie based on another young adult best selling series, I couldn't help but compared it to "The Hunger Games". Starring Shailene Woodley as Beatrice (otherwise known as Tris), Theo James as Four, Jai Courtney as Eric, Ashley Judd as Tris' mother, Maggie Q as Tori, Kate Winslet as Jeanine etc, this movie was set in a future world where Chicago was what was left after a war. All the surviving members of its society was divided into five factions, based on the character traits that each possesses or their personal choice, to maintain balance and harmony.

All children who reached the age of 16 had to go through a mandatory serum test to determine if their personalities belong to which one of the five factions:

• dauntless e.g. policeman, the brave ones who maintain societal discipline,
• amity e.g. farmer, the peaceful ones who provide for society, 
• candor e.g. lawyer, the truthful ones who uphold law and order,
• erudite e.g. scientist, the intelligent ones who invent stuff or
• abnegation e.g. charity workers, the selfless ones who help others out.

Tris was found to belong to neither but possesses qualities of a few factions and thus belonged to a minority group known as divergent. Jeanine, leader of the erudite, had her own plans to maintain peace, harmony, law and order, and her aim was to eradicate society of all divergents, who threatened the execution of her grand plan, at all costs. Four, the trainer for dauntless, fell in love with Tris and they combined forces to bring down Jeanine.

Many aspects of the movie really reminded me of "The Hunger Games" but I was particularly impressed by the cold and ruthless Eric, played by Jai Courtney whom I remembered from the recent "I, Frankenstein" movie. The movie was good enough for me to watch out for the subsequent parts, that is if they are going to be made.

Four and Tris

Eric and Four

the cold look Eric

Tori running tests on Tris

Tris and Christina

Tris and her brother Caleb

the scheming Jeanine

BATTLE ROYALE

Today's weather - sunny

I watched "Battle Royale II" recently and this predecessor movie adopted from a Japanese manga novel predates "The Hunger Games". Released in the year 2,000 over the millenium, it was the most original of such films and storylines back then.

After a span of 12 years, I re-watched the "Battle Royale" again. The main character is played by Tatsuya Jujiwara, who also appeared in "Battle Royale II".

Set in a futuristic world where society lost control of its youths, a battle royale act was passed for them to regain control. Under the act, the adults rounded up groups of delinquent students to kill themselves until one survivor remains. I find myself still glued to the concept, storyline, acting and so on. To most people, this may just be a sick and violent thriller movie. But to me, it is really more than that and is a radical movie outside the norm borne out of the brilliance of the writer.

It also differs from "The Hunger Games" in certain aspects. I tried to put myself in the shoes of the students and it would be extremely terrifying to be there and then to experience this horror. 

Imagine yourself being led with your classmates on a bus trip just to awake at a deserted island where it was revealed by your teacher that you had to kill all your other classmates within 3 days in order to live. You had no choice because bound to your neck is a device that would explode if you tried to remove it. In utter disbelief, you saw your form teacher being wheeled in dead on a medical bed. Next, you saw one of your classmates head being blown off by the neck device right in front of you. Then, you saw another classmate dropped to the ground after being pierced by a thrown knife to her forehead for whispering to others. Everything appeared so surreal as you were being issued a backpack of basic necessities and a secret weapon, which ranged from a pot lid to an axe to a pistol and so on, and sent out of the classroom one at a time.

How many people can actually handle this? Some who couldn't handle this committed suicide to avoid partaking in the nonsense. Some lost it as soon as they left the classroom and went on a killing spree. Others banded together as a group just to turn on each other as suspicions on others and self-doubts grew. Yet there were those who remained tight as a team and there were those who displayed cold-blooded calm and brutality in slaying their classmates without batting an eyelid. Unlike "The Hunger Games", this was a situation where you knew everyone as a friend or classmate and spent time with each other over a period of time. In "The Hunger Games", the participants were prepped mentally and physically through a period of training to kill total strangers. But killing known people without any prior warning? I dread to think about it.

To make matters worse, danger zones were created to up the challenge and broadcasts with light-hearted music were made over the island every six hours to announce the names of those who were killed or died. The whole setting and the gravity of the situation never gelled and were in stark contrast. That is one reason why it was so good because they were messing with your minds.

I shan't give the ending away but the movie is certainly worth watching if one has not caught it a decade ago. If you are used to the gore in the movies nowadays, you will not be as perturbed and disturbed by the many violent scenes. But trust me, a movie of this genre and violence was not the norm back in those days and stood out amongst the mediocre ones. This is movie making at its finest because of the wonderful story-telling. I have only one word to describe it - excellent!