“If we burn, you burn with us!” are the famous words that helped spark the rebellion in Mockingjay.  In the third installment of the Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss Everdeen begins her role as the Mockingjay.  She experiences war, grief, and loss while trying to maintain her strong, confident facade for the rebellion.  The movie helped create images for readers and viewers, but failed to convey the deeper thoughts and events in the book.

From the very beginning of the movie, the changing of events was very choppy.  Suzanne Collins takes time to explain the reason for things happening in the book. From the opening of the movie, the order of events was changed.  The movie begins with Katniss whispering to herself; the book begins with Katniss visiting District 12.  If the movie started with Katniss visiting District 12, the viewers might’ve had a different view on Katniss’s mental state.  The movie shows her as a broken girl who’s lost all hope while the book conveys her as someone slowly getting better.  The movie then shows Katniss being miraculously better, and the visiting District 12.  She then goes on to make her demands to become the Mockingjay.  Collins slowly starts to work up to Katniss’s recovery and rise as the Mockingjay.  When you read the book, you can feel Katniss’s pain and guilt while she tries to overcome the loss of her home and Peeta.  The writers of the movie also made it seem like Katniss trusted District 13.  When really, she didn’t trust anyone.  In the book, District 13 tries to hide Peeta’s propo but in the movie, Katniss sees it in front of everyone!  In fact, District 13 wants to fight back with Katniss’ help.  The movie made it seem like Katniss had the entire District of 13 on her side but she didn’t, and she knew it.  They also bring back Effie to help with Katniss in the first part of the movie.  In the book, Effie doesn’t see Katniss until after the Capitol invasion.  Bringing Effie in the story later on was like a reward for Katniss after she lost her sister.  Now, I wonder what will be her reward in the second movie.  For the most part, the movie did stick to the original book but, I think the writers could’ve done a little more to bring justice to the book.

Despite the changes, the movie still had some redeeming qualities.  Unlike the book, they actually showed what happened during the rescue of the victors.  It was nice to have a visual of how the rescue went.  The movie showed you how it was in the Control Center and in the Capitol.  The ending of the movie was very satisfactory.  There really is no other place you could end it without giving away what will happen in the second part.  It was a smart move to end it with Peeta attacking Katniss.  Ending the movie like that leaves the viewer wanting more, thus insuring that people will come back to see the second part of Mockingjay. 

All in all, you should go see the movie for yourself.  I warn you, if you have read the book before, the movie won’t be as appealing to you if you hadn’t read the book.  I was upset with some of the changes in the movie but, I still think it’s worth seeing.  The effects and acting was very good and pleasing.  The actors did a really good job of playing their parts, it’s too bad the writers didn’t do a little more for the storyline.  Still, I think the book is better, deeper, and way more detailed.  At the end of the day, watching the movie is worth your time as long as you know that you might be disappointed.