Bow-slinging heroine Katniss Everdeen (Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence) sets fire to the big screen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, the third film in a saga adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy of the same name.

In Catching Fire, Katniss sparked a nationwide rebellion but faced the consequences after her not-so-faux-beau Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) was captured by The Capitol. After Katniss and the other tributes destroyed the Quarter Quell arena, she and survivors go into hiding underground in District 13, which was believed to be destroyed, when District 12 was leveled to ashes.

Now the rebel uprising’s symbolic leader, Katniss, along with her longtime hunting friend and other love interest, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), try to inspire Panem to revolt by filming propaganda videos.

While Lawrence’s performance is phenomenal, as usual, Katniss is somewhat aggravating, much like her character in the novel. Overall, supporting characters like mentor Haymitch Abernathy (Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson) and wicked Capitol leader President Snow (Golden Globe winner Donald Sutherland) shine in this dystopian film.

The one character that leaves fans wanting more is Peeta. Like the first half of the book, he is only seen in The Capitol’s propaganda ads, but with director Francis Lawrence, my hope of seeing Hutcherson’s portrayal of the tortured Boy with the Bread from his perspective, rather than only Katniss’, were disappointed.

However, what is truly underappreciated are the political aspects of the film. In the previous installments, it was easily put on the back burner with the action-packed Hunger Games taking up the majority of the plot, but in Mockingjay we see not only how propaganda affects a nation, but also how a president’s decision can make or break a society.

In the end, fans will leave extremely pleased and ready to wait a year for the saga’s end with their three finger salutes and signature Mockingjay whistles ready.