What would you do if your actions led to a mass rebellion? Katniss Everdeen was placed in a death match and managed to escape. This enraged the tyrannical leaders of Panem, the country in which she lived, and inspired all the mistreated citizens to rebel. Katniss is now the face of the rebellion, but will she be able to handle the misery of war knowing her friend, Peeta, is being tortured and held by the enemy? Which portrays this hair-raising story better? Some say the movie but I say, the book.

The one thing you can never capture in a film is the imagination of every viewer and the feelings of the characters. I think that this is the biggest difference between a book and movie. In the movie you only see so much of the setting such as District 12 and 13. You see ash, a house, a room, and a bed. On the other hand, reading the book, the words made an outline while my imagination colored and shaped it into something I could almost feel. I saw and felt the ash, corpses, bugs, and guilt; in District 13 I saw lights, tokens, and felt the atmosphere. For me I always find the book a bit more enjoyable because your imagination can run wild with everything, but after you watch the movie it’s hard to imagine anything besides that.

There were a few things I didn’t like about the movie. One thing I didn’t think was shown in the movie was how, along with Katniss, Finnick was also in a weak phase. In the book you hear a lot more about how he tried to deal with his stress and worry. He seemed like a few strings were just holding him together. How he would make knots of rope to help keep him busy. I thought that how the movie chose to have the scene in the bunker was very significant. Another thing I didn’t like was how they made Katniss look when Peeta was attacking her. I thought that this scene was very important. When Peeta lunged for her, at first it was a shock; but as the scene progressed it made me think that Peeta and Katniss must be mentally as well as physically shaken from all of their experiences and memories.

As for the ending, I thought that where they decided to end the movie was good. I think I would have ended it there too because it’s a major cliff-hanger. You can’t help but ask; What’s wrong with Peeta, What will Katniss do, What will Coin decide, Is Peeta in a trance, Was this President Snow’s plan? All these questions are popping up in your head and you have to wait for months till you finally get an answer. I think the scene is also very symbolic because you know that Peeta has gone through so much with Katniss and without her that it shows how much pain he’s had to endure. He’s already seen so weak but the fact that he still has the power to fight shows his commitment and devotion to protect what he loves.

I think that in order to fully appreciate Mockingjay you should definitely read the book before watching the movie. Some people may think that it ruins the suspense but actually it only makes you anticipate it more. You wait for your favorite scene to happen and hope it’s as good as you imagined it. It helps you to understand exactly what the characters are feeling and if you read about it first it makes you think about what you would do in a situation like that. I hope that you found this review useful in some way. I take my leave stating my opinion, that I think the book was a lot better than the movies and you don’t have to wait for part two.