The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Movie Review

Since they began in 2012, the film adaptations of The Hunger Games trilogy have been met with great mainstream success, putting them alongside the likes of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. The end is beckoning for Suzanne Collin’s dystopian series, but by splitting the final book into two parts, we’re left with a somewhat lacking opening chapter.

Picking up immediately after Catching Fire, Mockingjay sees Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) moved out of District 12 and into an underground bunker, where the resistance has begun laying plans to strike against the capital of Panem and its tyrannical dictator President Snow. Led by President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and assisted by Plutarch Heavensbee (the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman), the resistance aims to use Katniss as a symbol; a rallying cry for the oppressed to come together and fight back. Mockingjay Part 1 is a very static movie; aside from the ruins of District 12, the film takes place almost exclusively in the resistance bunker where Katniss takes parts in various acts of propaganda, whilst others, such as her best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) carry out other tasks to grow the resistance. Those who have read the book will notice that only a small amount of material is present in this opening chapter and because of this, the film’s plotline does take a hefty knock. Because of the lack of proper action, Part 1 fails to produce a good build-up which will carry over into next year’s finale. We do see reminders that the Capital’s forces are always lingering in the background, but you never get the sense that things are becoming more and more intense as the plot really doesn’t go anywhere important. It also feels like decisive cuts were made just for this film; we really don’t learn anything new about the setting or the characters that inhabit them which stands at a huge contrast to the previous two films. Whilst the plot of Mockingjay Part 1 may satisfy the biggest fans of the titular book regardless, it comes off as being quite muted for everyone else.

The characters of Mockingjay maintain mostly the same performances that were seen in Catching Fire. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss is again excellent in the way she channels both the heartbreak of seeing District 12 destroyed and the enormous burden which is placed on her by the resistance; she remains one of the strongest heroines in modern film. The other characters maintain their traits; the loyal Gale, the light-hearted Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), and the comedic Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), who has ditched the fancy garments of the capital for a more basic rebel style. Regretfully though, the returning actors never really get a chance to show off their full talents because the thin plot gives them so little to work with. As for the new characters, they do look the part, but most of them really don’t do much to make their presence known. Natalie Dormer attempts to portray a strong parallel to Katniss with Cressida, but all she really does is bark commands to film the rebel’s propaganda every now and again. Colonel Boggs (Mahershala Ali) is quite commanding in his presence but most of his lines come off as really generic and samey, fitting into the gruff military commander type. The one exception to this is President Coin who does make an impression through her strong-willed mannerisms. You’ll find yourself drawn to the characters you remember, yet detached from the ones that are introduced in Mockingjay: Part 1, making the overall casting mixed in quality.

With District 12 having been destroyed at the end of the previous film, Mockingjay takes advantage of this by using destructive imagery to put across a gritty tone which the plot fails to match; when Katniss surveys the ruins and witnesses the fatalities of the capital’s most ruthless attacks, you hold an even greater dislike for the antagonists than ever before. There’s also a fair few serene moments layered across the narrative, reminding the audience that Part 1 is more “calm before the storm” than a direct build-up. The action (what little there is of it) is well shot and the music (which was composed by popular singer Lorde) fits both the setting and themes just as well as the previous soundtracks. It’s a shame that the plot gives little room for more dazzling sights and imaginative costume designs seen in the first two films, but ultimately the presentation of Mockingjay: Part 1 is acceptable enough.

Mockingjay Part 1 does what it sets out to do well enough, but the underdeveloped new characters and a plot that lacks urgency make it the weakest of the series. This is one case where splitting the film into two parts wasn’t really necessary or justified. Fans of the series will have no qualms with it at all, but most will come away expecting much more, especially from a series which has surged in popularity.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Interstellar Movie Review

For fourteen years now Christopher Nolan has achieved a near unstoppable success in film, rising to become one of the best directors in the business. Having concluded The Dark Knight Trilogy in 2012, the renowned director has now turned his sights to the realm of science fiction and the result is what can easily be the considered one of the best if not the best film of the year.

Interstellar takes place in the future where the Earth has almost run out of food; dust storms ravage what was once a healthy world and society has devolved into an endless line of struggling farmers. Facing the possibility of extinction, a team of NASA scientists led by Professor Brand (Michael Caine) commissions a team to travel through a wormhole in a bid to find another planet for habitation. The crew is comprised of several scientists and leading man Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) who reluctantly agrees to leave his family behind to serve as the ship’s pilot for the mission. In a similar way to 2001: A Space Odyssey before it, Interstellar is split into several defined acts (minus the text that introduces them). The film begins on Earth where we’re introduced to the characters and the setting they live, which is conveyed brilliantly through the emotional bond between Cooper and his young daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy) and from there, the film cuts between outer space and the characters back on Earth as they attempt to unravel theories which will assist in saving the human race. What makes it all work is the build-up that occurs in both the character’s emotions and the inevitable countdown to save humanity; as things grow more and more desperate and out of control, you’ll find yourself believing in the characters to succeed. The film, like many of Nolan’s previous works mixes in several themes and ideas, most notably human nature and the concept of love being something which transcends time and space. With this in mind, the film builds an emotional resonance that not only matches Nolan’s previous work, but leaps beyond the norm for science-fiction. The plot’s one misstep is a poignant moment towards the end of the film, which may stick out as rather confusing for some. But does this damage the narrative in a major way? Not so much for me personally; when every other aspect of the film is so engaging, so immaculately produced, it’s easy to overlook these small flaws.

 

While NASA sends a group of people to the beyond, the film’s central focus never deviates from Cooper, who is characterised with a simple yet strong purpose; an immensely emotive connection to his family. When he looks and weeps over several transmitted messages from his family, you can feel the weight of the burden that is placed on him. McConaughey’s heartfelt performance is matched by Foy’s (and later Jessica Chastain’s) where we see an equal amount of pressure and desperation built up. The other characters, most notably Anne Hathaway as biologist Amelia Brand and the aforementioned Michael Caine are also on hand to give plentiful amounts of reinforcement to the film’s central themes. Even the actors who receive smaller roles such as Matt Damon and Wes Bentley are intriguing in the ways they contribute to the film’s scientific undertones, further engaging the audience in the journey. By possessing a small circle of characters, Interstellar never becomes too uneven, allowing the plot and special effects to sit on a relatively consistent level.

2001 was one of the first science fiction films to dazzle audiences with its spell-binding imagery and if Interstellar’s effects achieve anything, they represent just how far we’ve come in animation. The visuals and settings of Nolan’s latest epic are absolutely stunning, and perfectly draw the audience into the journey beyond the stars. From the gorgeous celestial backdrops to the planets explored by the team, every location feels vast and expansive and on top of it all, the production crew even brought in theoretical physicict Kip Thorne, making many of the film’s portrayals of space travel feel much more grounded in reality. The sound, typical of many Nolan films, is loud and booming; despite the few times it gets in the way of dialogue, you really do feel the roar of the spaceship and the weather effects on each planet. There’s also a heavy use of organs during the more intense scenes which greatly heightens the urgency of the character’s struggles. Suffice it to say that when it all comes together, in terms of technical presentation, Interstellar could well be the most beautiful science fiction film of modern times.

Interstellar is quite simply a modern movie masterpiece; I haven’t been so captivated by a film since 2005’s King Kong. It was never going to be as ground-breaking as something like 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it doesn’t need to be; this is the one film this year that will utterly blow you away and leave you awe-struck and astounded from beginning to end.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

The Walking Dead Season 2 (PC) Review

The original Walking Dead game (the Telltale series, not the crappy Survival Instinct) was a shockwave that no one saw coming in 2012; it’s emotional and gripping story was proof that computer games were more than capable of standing alongside films and literature in terms of detailed narratives. One year on and the developer is now continuing this story with Season 2, another great tale that should be experienced by everyone.

The Walking Dead Season 2, as its name implies picks up where the last season left off; Clementine, the young girl you had to protect in the original game is forced to fend for herself in a ruined world; she eventually meets a new group of individuals (who I won’t spoil here) and they embark on a new journey wrought with danger, loss and difficulty. How will Clementine make it through this new struggle? Well that’s up to the player; just like in the previous games, what makes Telltale’s story that much more engaging is that you can influence it; certain characters can live or die and for season 2, decisions are imported from season 1 and the developer has included multiple endings, providing more incentive for you to go back and play it again. The episodes themselves are all well-paced, with each featuring their own environments and set-piece moments. The characters introduced in the new season are just as well rounded and interesting as those in the original and there are a few surprises in store for those who played the first game. The story’s crowning achievement though is that as you go along, you’ll care about Clementine just as much as you did with Lee in the first season which a rare thing indeed, considering how the viewpoint has shifted between the two seasons.

Across five episodes, The Walking Dead maintains the design of the original; you’ll move from chapter to chapter, interacting with the environment from time and time and of course, get into all kinds of intense scenes. The short interludes between each episode are again very effective in building anticipation for what will happen next. When you first start the game, you’ll have the option of choosing a save file from season 1 to bring into the sequel and while it doesn’t really change the overall direction of the story, you’ll still notice subtle differences on separate playthroughs, particularly in the way certain characters react to Clementine. You can expect to spend another twelve hours across the five episodes on your first time through and even more if you want to go for the alternate routes towards the end credits, making season 2 just as long-lasting as its predecessor.

Aside from a few small additions, the gameplay in The Walking Dead Season 2 is both basic, yet accessible, relying on quick time events and slower paced exploration controls to engage the player. One of the major additions this time is click and hold which comes into play in certain actions like lighting matches. It’s a light touch, but it does make sense in the context of what you’re doing. Aside from this, the game’s controls remain predominately the same; exploring environments still merely requires you to simply find the correct items in the correct order to proceed or heading to certain rooms to trigger the next story sequence. Major decisions are handed out to you in larger quantities this time around and they seem to give you less time to make choices, which does succeed in ratcheting up the tension of the episodes. The gameplay in Walking Dead Season 2 is a formula which works for the genre; if you were fine with it before, you’ll be able to jump right in and enjoy the game.

Keeping the same cell-shaded art style that made the original so absorbing; The Walking Dead Season 2 is another title that really can fit seamlessly into the world created by Robert Kirkman. Despite the art style veering away from realism, the character animations, particularly on their faces have not faltered one bit from one season to the next, meaning that the characters never stop being  wholly believable. There’s also a wide variety of music that has been brought in, which compliments the game’s dark atmosphere beautifully; “Remember Me” by Anadel was one of my favourites amongst others that are sure to pull at your heartstrings. The game appears to run much better than the first as well, with much less jitters and pauses on screen. The only real knock on the game’s presentation is an irritating white screen crash which happened a few times during play and did pull me out of the experience a little bit. Still, the game’s unique art style and brilliant voice acting do rescue the overall package, ensuring that the game remains a deeply immersive undertaking.

Niggling flaws hold it back a little, but The Walking Dead Season 2 is nonetheless another strong and emotional journey from Telltale that will once again invite you to care about its characters and the bleak world they inhabit. There really isn’t any reason not to try it out, especially for those who played (and cried) through the original game.

Rating: 8.5/10

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Game Review (PC)

Released in 1994, the original XCOM: Enemy Unknown (also known as UFO defense) is considered one of the best strategy games ever created, so when a 2012 reboot was announced by popular developer Fireaxis Games, many were sceptical. Fans of the series can rest easy as this new incarnation of a classic game more than lives up to the original’s legacy.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is set in 2015 where the Earth comes under attack from an alien attack; traditional military warfare proves ineffective, so an elusive council of nations begins the XCOM project, a conglomerate of high-tech troopers, scientists and engineers to combat the alien threat. As commander of this team, your goal is to uncover the true meaning of the invasions and hopefully defeat the aliens. It’s a very simplistic plot but where the game sets itself apart is through something which is rarely present in strategy games; constant reminders and the attachment it builds between the player and their troops. Because there are always alien abductions and other missions sprinkled in-between major plot points, you always feel as if the aliens are lingering and could take over the planet at any moment; this drives you to grin and bear through the pressure for the motivation of beating the game.

XCOM’s lone single player mode puts you in command of the titular project and from the get-go you’ll feel the pressures of that role. You’ll be playing through two primary mechanics; isometric combat and base management with both feeding into the other; at your base, you’ll be building upgrades and buildings, researching technology and conducting overall management of the alien threat. The ant farm system is both intuitive and easy to get into, with different rooms and facilities allowing you to scan the globe to pass the time needed for upgrades, view and customise soldiers, check panic levels within nations, research technologies and construct new items and buildings in engineering. It’s in this section of the game where strategy expands far beyond simple combat scenarios; you’ll need to choose where you put your funding, research and building efforts carefully. Do you want to upgrade your troops or build better equipment for them? Which research project will be most valuable in the future? How long and how much of your resources will it take to build this new facility? It’s these kinds of choices that really get you into your role as a commander and choosing poorly or ignoring missions to spend time building upgrades can often result in grave consequences including under-prepared resources and the potential to lose missions. You’ll have to be especially mindful of countries leaving the XCOM project as if that happens too many times, the game is over and you’ll have to either revert to an earlier save game or in the case of iron and classic difficulties, start over from the beginning. Scanning the globe causes missions to pop up, which can range from simple alien abductions where your squad must clear the area of all hostiles, bomb disposal, aerial combat against UFOs and civilian rescues. As you go through the campaign, story missions will appear on the map and the aliens will introduce deadlier foes for your troops to deal with. The only real issue with the design is that it lacks a couple of features which would have made the campaign just that little bit more engaging, such as base defence and controllable interceptors in UFO combat. This matters little though; with its drastically upscaling difficulty and demanding strategic choices, you’ll always be on edge in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, something which very few strategy games can accomplish.

For a more demanding challenge, XCOM: Enemy Unknown’s online multiplayer offers a highly tactical battleground to test your skills. Squads are fully customisable with both human and alien units with a point system. To play in the ranked servers, you’ll need to ensure you meet the point limit which will often mean choosing more basic units to start off with. There’s a good mix of maps from outdoor forests to metallic interiors, though the mode itself seems a little bare bones, only offering basic combat matches. Of course the main reason to try out multiplayer is the aliens; it’s a real treat to see how the opposite side plays, with their increased focus on machinery and psychic powers.

XCOM’s isometric combat system is much more intimate than most strategy games on the market; you’ll take turns moving a squad of up to six soldiers across the grid, taking shots at enemies and potentially using each class’s unique abilities. The heavy packs a heavy machine gun and rocket launcher, support is best at healing, assault rushes in with shotguns and stun guns and snipers take aim from afar. Each squad member is useful in their own way and as they gain kills and complete missions, they will level up to acquire even more abilities, which pays dividends in defeating the more dangerous alien types. Taking shots is based on percentages so if you’re faced with an unlikely hit, you’ll want to go with the reactionary overwatch, cover-boosting “hunker down” or reload the trooper’s weapon to ensure they won’t be caught off guard next turn. Even with multiple upgrades to your squad and their loadouts, you’ll quickly learn that there is no such thing as a perfect playthrough in XCOM; just like in real conflict, you will inevitably lose battles, suffer casualties and see countries withdraw from the project and this only adds to the intense nature of the combat itself. As your soldiers become more and more important with the ranks they gain, you will dread the enemy’s tactics and often ruthless efficiency in the way they constantly throw more deadly units at you. In combat, you must move with caution so as not to find yourself overwhelmed, choose a well-rounded squad to fit whatever enemies you may encounter, and most importantly, choose your cover and tactics very wisely. If your squad suffers heavy damage or casualties in a mission, you’ll be forced to use a less desirable team which will in turn, hurt your future efforts down the road. On the whole, the combat in XCOM: Enemy Unknown is very unpredictable which heightens the tension even more across the entire game.

This modern rendition of XCOM uses an animated style which falls somewhere in-between cartoon and cell-shaded. A heavy use of blue reflects the futuristic setting and the XCOM project itself. There’s a wide range of imaginative creature designs on display, who all have their own often grotesque movements and attack animations. Whilst some of the mission environments do repeat a bit, there is a good variety, including forests, towns and more mechanical areas throughout the campaign which all benefit from some detailed destruction effects. The music is suitably tense during missions and the game runs very well with only a few dips in frame rate during combat. The game also makes use of many cinematic camera angles to add great impact to every kill, making victory every bit as gratifying as it should be. Overall, the technical presentation of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is just as detailed and well-crafted as the rest of the game.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is one of the most engaging and intense tactical experiences that modern gaming has to offer; it does the original justice whilst also doing a great job of updating it for modern audiences. If you can stomach the challenging difficulty then there’s no reason to miss out on this excellent game.

Rating: 9/10