The series' two-part finale gets under way in solid, absorbing if not exactly inspired fashion: Critic Review for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

This is a war film with a touch of a political espionage thriller

The Sacramento Bee Source, The Sacramento Bee

'Part 1' is a likable preamble, a moment to let the flames die down before adding more fuel

Henry Barnes, The Guardian

'The Hunger Games' is declining in power, but not as steeply as I thought, and this weird, operatic nightmare still inhabits the screen with confidence

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

'Mockingjay - Part 1' powers through on the strength of a tale that's always had more on the ball than the shoddy Games rip-offs

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

'Mockingjay' will leave fans invigorated and satisfied, yet anxiously awaiting the final chapter

Roth Cornet, IGN

The film is well-made and drab, it is not in the least entertaining or satisfying

Santa Banta Source, Santa Banta

'The Hunger Games' holds not much more than a chance to spend a couple hours with characters you really, really like

Al Alexander, Wicked Local - Beverly Citizen

It’s just buried under a surplus of filler

Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

It is grim, gray going

Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

It’s a good enough ploy a couple of times in 'Mockingjay – I' before it becomes repetitive and even a wee bit exploitative

Shalini Langer, Indian Express

'Mockingjay' is more substantial than in previous entries, but Hemsworth and Lawrence’s chemistry is as flat as ever

Genevieve Koski, The Dissolve

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1', one of the grimmer dystopian movies in a decade lousy with them

David Edelstein, Vulture

There are parts to the movie where you think there is going to be a lot of action, but instead it’s over as quickly as it started

Tim Williams, CBS Pittsburgh

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1' proves to be a tension-filled game of political gamesmanship that positions audiences for the final battle

Michael Smith, Tulsa World

Part 1 shuffles from set piece to set piece, progressing without haste, nor sense of looming threat, before simply concluding, without even a hint of a cliffhanger

Ben Gourlay, TweakTown

'Mockingjay - Part 1' could be a lot worse, but it’s still just a preamble to the big show

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1' is brilliantly shot

Paloma Sharma, Rediff

This is not a bad movie, but it certainly doesn’t match up to the first two

Chris Vetter, Leader-Telegram

Their investment in sometimes-ludicrous dialogue and situations make the film's stakes seem more real and more compelling

Bill Goodykoontz, The Clarion-Ledger

'Mockingjay', there are still more scenes, action and drama that have yet to unfold

Janice Somosot, International Business Times

There is adjusting, surveying, sitting and talking, and little that’s visually stimulating

Carla Meyer, The Sacramento Bee

'Mockingjay' is mostly bound to the bleak and claustrophobic bowels of a bunker

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly

'Hunger Games' movies and the most satisfying even though the cliffhanger non-ending doesn’t resolve anything

David Blaustein, ABC News

'Mockingjay' but also probably the one thing that makes an otherwise dreary, derivatively dystopian franchise worth watching

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

'Mocking Jay Part 1' is a movie which deserves to be seen in theaters immediately

Lacey Mc Lemore, The Valdosta Daily Times

'Mockingjay', the weakest book of Suzanne Collins’ blockbuster trilogy, has been adapted into a forgettable installment that fails to stand on its own

Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly

'Mockingjay – Part 1' is all queue, no roller-coaster

Christopher Rosen, The Huffington Post

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1' takes flight, but overall this action-drama flits about, wondering where to land

Joe Neumaier, The New York Times

I think any reader of the book will not want to miss this movie, and it certainly does justice to the best aspects of the book

Zoe Pearce, The Buffalo News

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1' - Action, Interrupted

Marshall Fine, The Huffington Post

'Mockingjay - Part 1' dispatches any notions that this science-fiction story is good escapist fun

Brandy McDonnell, News Ok

'Hunger Games' chapter has what all such films have, namely, a few stretch marks and an ending that goes beyond cliffhanger

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

'Mockingjay Part 1' allows its stars time and room to explore their characters in all their damage, motivation, and spirit to change their world and their current circumstances

Alison Smith, Phoenixville Patch

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1' is the latest entry in the massively popular film franchise

Jordan Hunt, CaryCitizen

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1' takes flight, but overall this action-drama flits about, wondering where to land

Joe Neumaier, Daily News America

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1' is according to the critics, dark, brooding, and less action-packed

Nephi Lock, Moviepilot.com

'Mockingjay - Part 1' is still an engrossing movie, with a wrenching ending

Matt Zoller Seitz, Roger Ebert

'Mockingjay', the last installment in Suzanne Collins best-selling Hunger Games trilogy, comes to us in two parts. Part 1 is just the placeholder

Anupama Chopra, BookMyShow

It winds up a largely actionless movie that would have amounted to little more than the first act of a single film

Drew Wheeler, flagpole

It absolutely saps the franchise of any sense of urgency, with everything dragged out to a ludicrous degree

Chris Bumbray, JoBlo.com

'Mockingjay' is only half a story, it still delivers a thrilling one filled with big ideas

Jordan Hunt, CaryCitizen

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay', because it's a two-part finale and this first one really is just half of a movie

Alex Billington, First Showing

The first half of the final Hunger Games installment is disappointingly bland and unnecessarily protracted

Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

The series' two-part finale gets under way in solid, absorbing if not exactly inspired fashion

Justin Chang, Variety

Critic Reviews for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1