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

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE

This is the second part of "The Hunger Games" trilogy and continues from the first which was released in March 2012. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson and others, I am glad the movie didn't disappoint me. 

The political situation was getting more complicated and a revolution appears to be inevitable. As the 13 Districts sent their representatives to partake in a death battle in the Third Quarter Quell to celebrate the 75th Hunger Games, the mastermind behind it all had plans to take down all those who opposed him in igniting the upstaging.

As in the first movie, the fiery costumes are all a minor part of the highlights. In particular, Katniss's white swan-like dress transformed into a black one after the dress caught fire when she performed her turns. Then there was the Monarch Butterfly dress and hair adornment that was kind of eye catching and tickled me pink.

In the first movie, the memorable tagline was "may the odds be ever in your favour" and in this latest one, it is "remember who the enemy is" to drive home the point that despite the fact that the participants of the Quarter Quell were opponents pitted against each other to be the ultimate survivor, they all had a common enemy that they wanted to take down.

So when is the last installment coming out? I am already looking forward to it.