I’m kind of surprised this move is only four months away, yet we’re just now seeing footage from the film. Yeah, those Peeta and Snow promotional videos don’t count.

Regardless, I was up at midnight on July 28^th, and I was on Facebook when the official Hunger Games page posted the first teaser/trailer to Mockingjay Part One.

I’ve heard a lot of people say that Mockingjay is the installment of the Hunger Games that least needs two parts, and I agree with that, but… I do like the direction this is taking. After I saw Catching Fire, my friends and I were talking and speculating about Mockingjay Part One, and I was telling them all EXACTLY what was going to happen. The first part would be a grittier and darker, more political movie, and the second part will be an all-out rebellion against the Capitol. It will be somewhat like the final two Harry Potter movies, only I imagine Mockingjay Part One will mix HP7 Part One with other material like Affleck’s The Town.

Actually, yeah! The Town is another movie on my Top 10 of All Time List, but it isn’t a movie for casual viewing. It’s very dark yet very thrilling. I think if Mockingjay Part One takes those much darker elements and incorporates them, then I have a felling it will be really cool. To people who say it’s the weakest book: it is. I do imagine a lot more creative liberties will be taken with these final two, as they’re being split up, and Mockingjay has much less material than Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I think that The Hunger Games movies are probably the young adult phenomenon that probably don’t need to capitalize on the ‘split it into two’ thing. If it were just three movies, then I’m sure it would be a solid trilogy, but if these final two (the last one particularly) can really wow me, then I’ll say, “alright, that was a great four-ilogy” or whatever a series of four is called…

But enough of my thoughts on the franchise, let’s talk about this teaser! I was talking about the direction and I like that this doesn’t feel like it’s the original Hunger Games much. You can tell it’s in the same universe, but it definitely is its own installment, like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was to Rise. We don’t see many characters, but the ones you do see stand-out. My favorite was Julianne Moore whose appearance and costuming I really liked. Quick shoutout to the Hunger Games franchise costume people, you guys are the best in the business, keep doing what you’re doing, we all love the costuming! But yeah, Julianne Moore is the definite stand-out, with the late and great Phillip Seymour Hoffman in second place.

To summarize, I really like the direction this trailer has taken, and it’s everything I’m expecting to see in Mockingjay Part One. If the movie takes dark elements from movies like The Town, political elements from different movies, yet still has enough action to keep us entertained, then this could be the best Hunger Games film of the series. But we’ll have to wait and see…

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So guys, those are my thoughts on the teaser trailer for Mockingjay Part One. What are your thoughts on it? Let me know down below! And as always, thanks for reading guys.