Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - 10 Reasons It Sucks (And 2 It Doesn't)

9. Lack Of Action

The previous two Hunger Games movies did fantastic jobs of balancing drama with action, aided by a central premise that revolved largely around the thrill of the chase. However, while Mockingjay Part 1 smartly moves away from that formula, it fails to replace it with anything approaching exciting action. The movie has less than 10 minutes of full-on action, featuring a few 1-2 minute snippets of gunfire and fighting peppered throughout, but nothing sustained nor particularly entertaining to watch. Though it's fair to say that the first half of the Mockingjay novel is relatively bereft of action as well, that only further explains why this movie shouldn't really exist in the first place. If the 50 minutes of good material acted as the first act of a 3-hour Mockingjay movie ahead of intense action later on, then it would be totally permissible. If you're not a reader of the books and go in expecting an action extravaganza, disappointment is inevitable, because there's so little of it, and what little does appear isn't especially memorable.