THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2, REVIEW

For all you Hunger Games fans out there, this movie is bittersweet.  With much anticipation and sorrow at knowing that your franchise is coming to its end.  And for the uninitiated, don’t bother seeing this movie.

Part 2 definitely requires you to see Part 1, if you were to go into it cold, you would be absolutely lost and have no chance whatsoever figuring out why JLaw is wearing a wig and can’t speak properly.  So, let’s get that out of the way first and foremost.  She’s wearing a wig, gasp, shock, horror… done.  Let’s move on.

This movie assumes that you’ve seen the at least the previous installation.  And fair enough, after all, it says “Part 2” in its title.  But that is annoying in itself.  In these past few years, the movie studios have figured out a way to make more money out of a successful franchise, and that’s to divide the last book into two instalments of the same movie.  And that is shitting me off.  If I wanted a cliff hanger, I’d watch TV.  Movies are suppose to be stand alone, they are suppose to not require prerequisite viewing.

It can be argued that there’s so much material that it needs to be broken up into two.  Meh… that’s what I say.  The other books are just as long, and in truth, it is up to a good script writer to adapt it accordingly.  I would have enjoyed this movie a great deal more if it were a 2.5hr spectacle with Part 1 and 2 together, not requiring me to wait a year to see whether or not Katniss survives Peeta’s strangulation attempt.  Spoiler alert, she does.

All this annoyance aside, this fourth instalment is more adult than the previous instalments.  It has a darker, edgier feel to it than the first two.  But it also has some rather odd plot lines which, when you stop to think about it, does not make sense.  Reality and basic military strategies aside, we move forth with Part 2.

Jennifer Lawrence is great as Katniss Everdeen, our reluctant hero (not heroine, we’re not sexiest here).  She’s taken control of her fate and her role as the Mockingjay.  She understands what it is she needs to do, there is no point of return.  The rebels have well and truly been pushed beyond a point of no return.

Liam Hemsworth’s Gale finally does something other than be the sturdy eye candy.  Gale is still not as fleshed out as Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) or Finnick.  Hemsworth fails to bring Gale to life properly.  He doesn’t jump out of the screen for us to love him, feel for him, stand by him.  He’s just there.  Gale is suppose to be a great soldier, a strategist, a constant companion, a rock.  But some how, Hemsworth’s portrayal just leaves me rooting for Peeta all the way.

Peeta, the worst name to ever grace a leading character, is the standout character in this half instalment.  He’s broken, he’s fragile, he’s angry, he’s determined, he’s torn in his own mind.  Josh’s initial physical appearance shocks you.  You feel for Peeta, you wonder what has happened to him.

Jena Malone is only in this movie briefly as Johanna Mason, the other captured rebel victor.  And she’s fantastic.  Her contempt for anything and anyone is great.  Her cynicism is perfect.  I look forward to seeing her in movies in the future.

I absolutely loathed that Julianne Moore was cast as President Coin.  And she proves that she is still miscast in this role in this instalment.  A brilliant actress who failed to bring a complex character to life properly.  Coin is an incredibly complex character, and was always going to be a challenge for anyone to portray.  I just think that Jodie Foster or perhaps Glenn Close should have been offered this role.  These are the only two actors I am able to comprehend who would have the range to properly do justice to this character.

I am torn between how I feel about this instalment.  There are many great qualities, it’s darker and more complex than the previous movies.  It brings the horror that is their reality to an end, but at a massive cost.  It also enables these heroic characters to become their true selves.  And then there are those actors who just fail to bring their written characters to life fully.

This bittersweet pill of an instalment is good at its core, it brings to end a teenage franchise which has grown up.  It does not have the feel or have the teenage undertone which the first movie had.  This instalment has evolved with its characters.  And thankfully, the characters themselves have grown up and evolved.  They’re not stupid, they’re not fighting for the sake of fighting.  They’re using their heads, they’re thinking.

Suzanne Collins has written a great feminist hero, one whose values and humanity is rarely wavered.  Atrocities happen when good people stand by and do nothing, not for Katniss Everdeen.  She’s a hero who stands up for what she believes in, a woman who does not let her humanity and sense of what’s right and wrong be wavered by others around her.  She’s a hero that has long been absent from our screens.  She’s no Bella, and thank goodness for that.

The Hunger Games is a love story, but it is a love story between two sisters.  The love that they have for one another.  Katniss is willing to die and kill for her sister Prim.

Part 2 is an enjoyable movie, it has some great action sequences.  But given that this was split into two movies, I am feeling as though I’ve lost out on something.  I guess perhaps I needed to watch Part 1 yesterday rather than a year ago.  And that’s an annoyance, because The Hunger Games does not have a very high rewatch value.

 

 

Rating: 4/10 (from an initial 6), if you’re not well versed in The Hunger Games world and knows exactly where the last movie left off, you’d be more than a little lost.  If you’re well versed in The Hunger Games, then, it’s a 8/10.  A finale that is worthy of its predecessors.

See it again: Don’t care, it’s enjoyable and there’s some great acting in this instalment, but I would definitely need to watch Part 1 first before I go back to Part 2.  And, at Part 2 being over 2 hours long, I don’t think I’ve got the time right now.

Worth my time: Yes, I wanted to see what happens to these characters, I want to see their fates and how each deals with the situation with which they now found themselves.

Take my mother: No, definitely not.  Mum would have to watch Part 1 and even then, she’d be wondering what was going on.  It is a series, and you definitely need to have watched Part 1 to get Part 2, and you need to watch at least the first or second movie in order to get Part 1.

Talking points: The weird Plutarch scenes (Philip Seymour Hoffman), he died before this movie was filmed/completed.  So… The crazy muts, talk about scary.

Annoyance factor: 7/10, needing to have watched the previous instalments to understand what’s going on.  And the relationships amongst each character.  I still stand by that movies should be stand alone, and they shouldn’t require you to know anything about the characters before the movie starts.