I saw a movie tonight. I haven’t been going to the movies a lot in recent months—this is the third movie that I’ve watched this year.

Until last Wednesday, I had forgotten that it was even due to arrive, but fortunately during the weekly gathering that is beer chasers, the subject came up and I found myself sitting in a dark room with a half dozen or so friends watching the silver screen.

Visually it was excellent. The CG was never clearly CG and stayed true to life (something that I cannot say is true of The Hobbit). The movies actually improve on the books because they are not told in the same first person perspective—something that I’ve read in multiple reviews and was mentioned by my friend Stacie; I wholeheartedly agree with.

I am not one that normally appreciates a single book being split into multiple movies—it reeks of crass commercialism and often poor execution of film. It didn’t work in Harry Potter, it absolutely isn’t working for the Hobbit, and my concern was that it also wouldn’t work here. That fear is unfounded. The movie found a natural break in the plotline of Mockingjay and used it masterfully. I never felt as if the movie was dragging along and I can’t say there’s a scene that I ever felt was in place for use as “filler.” The cruel world portrayed in the book is very much alive in film, and the closing scenes make it clear that a year from now, the end of the series will end with a bang.

The Hunger Games are more about character than action. Jennifer Lawrence leads a cast that portray a set character just as strong and just as flawed as I imagined when I read the books a few years ago. This one is worth seeing, no question.