Unlike the previous films in the series, this one is mostly indoors — the secret, bunker*-like headquarters of District 13, a hotbed* of rebellion led by its president, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore).

    Together with turncoat* Capitol game-maker Plutarch (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and wheelchair-bound high-tech wiz and hacker Beetee (Jeffrey Wright), the president aims to encourage the surviving citizens of all the districts to overthrow* the evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

    This situation is new to Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), who awakens from the trauma* of what we saw her experience last year to be faced not only with underground imprisonment but the betrayal* of Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). In a series of broadcast interviews with the Caesar (Stanley Tucci), the young survivor appears drugged, brainwashed or both as he warns against civil war and asks the rebels to agree to a cease-fire*.

    Katniss is taken to see the rubble* that is her native District 12 in hopes of bringing back her revolutionary fervor. By her side again are Gale (Liam Hemsworth); Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), now sober and with little to do; and Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks).

    It’s up to all of these characters to change Katniss into “the face of the revolution,” and the film’s most entertaining moments record their efforts to turn her into a cross between Joan of Arc* and Marianne, France’s symbol of la liberte.

    The main challenge faced by new-to-the-series screenwriters Peter Craig and Danny Strong was to bring the story to the moment of the inevitable* confrontation between the oppressors and the oppressed. From a dramatic point of view, this would have ideally occupied either the first third or half of a 140-minute movie, which would have then continued to move on toward action and final resolution. As things stand, however, audiences are left at the edge of a cliff for another year — until November 2015, when Part 2 of “Mockingjay” will be released.(SD-Agencies)