‘Hunger Games Mockingjay part 2’ ends the story with an epic adventure
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2 wraps up the long, difficult adventure for Katniss and the resistance as they storm the Capitol to rip power away from Donald Sutherland’s President Snow. Unlike the melodramatic Mockingjay part 1, Part 2 is a grander work with deeper themes and a great ending.
In some ways Katniss’ journey is a let down as The Hunger Games was a very personal journey. Attempting to be epic in scope, Mockingjay 2 adds in plenty of action as Jennifer Lawrence’s character gets gritty without the emotional breakdowns of Part 1. There are a ton of deaths with Liam Hemsworth’s Gale lecturing the main character: “It’s war, Katniss.” You can’t take every death personally…”
“I, of all people, know that it’s always personal,” she rages back.
Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) still suffers from bouts of brainwashing fatigue and the political intrigue actually pays off – much better than the love triangle.
Francis Lawrence delivered a great film with Catching Fire, but stripped all of the color and passion out of this series in the Mockingjay films. The apocalyptic nature of the world is pinned entirely on the evil of humanity and right versus wrong gets turned inside out. The film is drab, but intense. It is more personal without the large scale Peter Jackson shots, but never makes us care about any other than Katniss and secondary characters like Sam Claflin’s Finnick or Elden Henson’s Pollux.
Hemsworth is dreadful, but I can determine if it’s the source material or just a horrible performance. The multitude of characters leave us empty and left with just Katniss and her bland, almost pathetic future.
Overall The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2 receives 3 1/2 out of 5 stars
Fans will love it. It’s delivers a satisfactory ending, but the character development is just too weak for a higher rating. Hutcherson and Lawrence just aren’t believable as a couple for me and the great actors on board never get any real screen time to note.
