Just saw this and I have quite a few things to say. Before I start, I wanna say that I know I'm not a big HG supporter, but I'll try to keep my review as unbiased as possible.
I actually decided to see this out of the blue. I was bored today so I re-watched the first HG the first time since I saw it in theatres. I like it less than then, but it really made me wanna watch MJ1 so I went with the flow.
My 9:30 in the evening show was around 70% full. More about audience's reaction to it later.
For the most part I enjoyed the movie. It has it's moments. For example, "The Hanging Tree" song scene (the chorus at the end, not Lawrence's version - I said it before: her version doesn't fit at all) + the dam scene was fantastic. Also the scenes after the destruction of the hospital. But there are MANY other moments that (like some people already said) are there just for the sakes of it or they are stretched way too much. The movie is bloated. If feels bloated and the audience felt it (I'll explain why in a sec).
From all the movies in the series, this looked the best. You could easily see the budget (one complaint: I would've liked to see the bombing of District 13 from the outside too).
Regarding the acting, I have only good things to say. Hemsworth is trying, Lawrence is good as always, Moore is great, but what truly amazed me was how incredibly good Hutcherson was. Literally every single one of his scenes was perfectly acted. They played his change really good up until that fantastic moment at the end with him completely insane.
Before I get into my audience and it's response, I just wanna say I hate critics and 90% of the time don't agree with them, but they got one thing right: despite great acting and visuals and some shivering moments, MJ1 feels like the first part, and not in the way DH1 felt for example. That is one of my least favourite Potter movies, but it still had a climax and a lot of tense scenes. MJ1 sorely lacks that. MJ1 is the aftermath of CF and that's it. The story does not move forward almost at all. You can resume the entire movie like this: Katniss decides to help the rebellion and Peeta is saved. Period. There's nothing else.
Which brings me to my audience's reaction, and it wasn't a good one. When the title of the movie appeared at the end, after Peeta's insanity scene, someone guy in front of my yelled: "Give us our money back." And everyone started laughing. Now, you can take that as a joke, but then, when I'm almost out of the room, I hear another guy saying: "They saw they hit the jackpot with the first two and now they keep making them. She [Katniss] did nothing the whole movie. She shot down two planes and that was all. Sorry, but that's how it was." The last phrase was directed at one of the girls in his group, probably his gf, and she replied: "No, you're right."
Now, I wanted to mention this because I find it understandable from a guy to complain about the lack of action, but my audience was 70% girls and it seems even they are not pleased. It will open under CF here I think and I seriously doubt the legs will be good with this kind of WOM and much more competition than CF had.
Uh, long post. In the end, as a stand-alone movie, I'd grade it B, but as part of the THG series, I'd grade it C (with CF being an A- and THG a B+). And that pretty much because it did not feel like a HG movie to me.