The final installment of the “Hunger Games” trilogy wrapped up in the second half of the last book-turned-movie. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t absolutely terrible as a film either. To some degree, it follows semi-accurately to the book, which then makes it the worst of the movies.
It is widely held that the last book of Suzanne Collins’ series was a bit of a disappointment, and the movie really tries to redeem how the story ends. But this is a series that would have done better had it all changed. “Mockingjay: Part Two” was the last 50 pages of the book: all action-centered on a seemingly hopeless effort.
The movie opens where the last one ends: with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) dealing with Peeta’s (Josh Hutcherson) corrupted mind. The love triangle continues between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and it’s as confusing and frustrating as ever. The entirety of the movie centers on Katniss’s vendetta against President Snow and the rebels going to take down the Capitol.
The action scenes are tense and fast-paced, and most helped to build the momentum, but a few felt a little pointless. The plan to get to the president’s mansion felt like a suicide mission with the absurd number of traps the Capitol had set in the city.
As for character development, the movie does this exponentially better than the last book did. It’s easy to empathize with Katniss and really see what drives her – she is more of a person and less of a ball of anger. But every scene between she and Peeta is painfully corny. That is in part due to the script, but the actors themselves seemed disconnected.
If you’ve never seen any of the movies before, this one will make no sense. If you’ve read the books, you may be pleasantly surprised by how the movie makes an effort to follow the plot, but certainly not a perfect one. If you’ve just watched the movies, it’s a disappointing end.
Fans of the series should see “Mockingjay: Part Two” if only for the closure of the series. It gets a 6.5/10 stars.
Rated PG-13 for violence.
