Katniss Everdeen played by Jennifer Lawrence. All photos courtesy of Murray Close/Lionsgate.

Just as the messianic rebel leader Katniss Everdeen has found her footing, the hit “Hunger Games” film series has become more assured with its latest installment, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1, while retaining most of the scaffolding of Suzanne Collins’s novel (Scholastic, 2010­­). The decision to halve the final part of the trilogy allows the filmmakers to tell Mockingjay’s serpentine story line with ease and to take time in the building of tension while letting the characters, and the audience, catch their breath. (Collins also adapted the screenplay.) In other words, this is not a case of a film cramming in too much plot in too little time. Like the best seller, the movie doesn’t stand alone. The script assumes viewers are in the know. At this point in the story, an all-out war has broken out between the decadent dictatorship in the Capitol, hell-bent on restoring its power, and the surrounding districts. The rebels of militarist District 13 have saved Katniss’s life, and its leadership now props up the reluctant heroine as “the face of the revolution,” making her the star in its propaganda videos (called “propos”) to counter the beamed in messages from President Snow (played by the slithering Donald Sutherland). However, Katniss’s fellow victor in the previously seen Hunger Games—and love interest—Peeta, has been captured by Rose and is being used as a weapon to taunt Katniss. The lethal cat-and-mouse game between Katniss and Snow dominates over the low-simmering relationship tension from loyal nice guy Gale (Liam Hemsworth), with the puppy dog eyes. This time around, most of the story is set in the dark and cavernous underground lair of District 13, where Katniss and the survivors of her decimated home, District 12, have taken refuge. (Like the Spartans, District 13’s inhabitants have grown up trained for warfare.)

Effie Trinket become a political refugee in this installment.

One of the strongest pleasures of Collins’s world-building, whether in print or on screen, has been the mash-up of varied references. The endless tunnels and multiple levels of District 13 call to mind what may be the first dystopian movie ever, Fritz Lang’s 1926 Metropolis, where the enslaved are forced to burrow for the above-ground elite. A clandestine rescue mission takes its visual cues from the last half-hour of Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty (2012), and there’s the equivalent of a visit from John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate (1962), in which someone gets brainwashed. As the emotionally stripped down Katniss, Jennifer Lawrence achieves equilibrium. More reactive in this installment than in the first two movies, she brings more depth to her role than most stars fronting a franchise and goes for broke without going over-the-top. Besides Katniss, the film has an additional savior: the de-blinged Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks). Katniss’s bubble-headed, entirely superficial (and proud of it) escort has become a political refugee—while still trying to right fashion wrongs. Banks brings a much needed lightness to a movie that begins on a downbeat note that reverberates throughout. With so many other of Katniss’s allies dropping like flies, it’s reassuring to see a familiar face. Perhaps the main point of contention among the book’s fans is how to divide Collins’s narrative. The filmmakers have chosen a less-than-obvious moment to conclude the first part. Right when audiences assume it’s over, the film proceeds for another five minutes. Nevertheless, it’s not a deal breaker. Audiences will certainly return for the conclusion of Mockingjay. (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 will open in November 2015.) Directed by Francis Lawrence 123 min. Rated PG-13 (massacre of thousands, implied torture, and overall high body count)