Hey everybody. It's David here with a review for you (late though it is) of The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 2. The final chapter in the Hunger Games Saga until Lionsgate decides to make prequels out of it. I know that it's kind of weird putting out 2 blogs in one day, but this was the first opportunity I actually got to see this movie after a pretty hectic past couple of weeks.
So Mockingjay Part 2 picks up right where Part 1 ended with Peeta having been brainwashed by President Snow to kill Katniss and District 13 preparing to go to war against the Capitol along with rebel forces from the other Districts. But as the stakes are raised and Snow becomes more and more obsessed with destroying Katniss, what happens next will shape the future of Panem itself.
Now to give a little bit of background, I had read all 3 of the books (though I had only read the first 1-2 chapters of the first book before seeing the first Hunger Games movie back in 2012) and fell in love with the series pretty easily. As a brief overview of my opinions on the previous movies, The Hunger Games was pretty O.K. even though they changed a lot from the book and the shaky cam was kind of bothersome even during the calmer scenes, Catching Fire, I believed, was the high point of the franchise, and Mockingjay Part 1, even though it severely lacked action, I found decent enough.
But now that Mockingjay Part 2 has been released, and after finally getting around to watching it, how does it fare? Pretty well actually. What I really loved about the movies from Catching Fire forward was how much they delve into the personalities and motivations of their main characters and Mockingjay Part 2 is no different. We dive into the psyche of the main characters who have witnessed many horrors since the first movie and it's very engaging.
Additionally, the camaraderie between the characters is very believable, making it all the more tragic when certain members don't make it out alive. The action scenes were really captivating and had me on the edge of my seat and you're completely invested in the strategies and decisions that are made as this grand war is going on for the future of Panem.
This movie also doesn't shy away from showing the ugly side of war as there are heavy losses from both sides, including the countless innocents who are caught in the crossfire. The struggle to hold on to one's own humanity is explored as the characters discover how far they're willing to go to overthrow the corrupt government that rules over them with an iron fist.
And finally, and this is more of a selfish thing, I really liked the designs of the lizard mutts in this movie. A problem that I had with The Hunger Games and Catching Fire was that I didn't feel like they got the designs of the wolf mutts and monkey mutts, respectively, quite right. A friend of mine even showed me some concept art from the first movie of what the wolf mutts were originally supposed to look like, seen here, and those designs were more what I thought they should look like. The lizard mutts in Mockingjay Part 2, I felt, were perfectly designed.
But, even with all those positive aspects of the movie, there were still some areas that I took issue with. First off was the fact that certain characters seemed to almost be sidelined, hardly ever showing up in the movie. Some examples of this were Haymitch, Plutarch (which is understandable as Philip Seymour Hoffman tragically committed suicide while filming of both parts of Mockingjay was still going on), but I feel like the worst example of character sidelining was with Effie. This was one of my favorite supporting characters in the series and I don't think she even got 5 minutes of screentime.
Another problem that I came across was close to the end when 2 of the main characters had a falling out and parted ways. That moment just seemed needlessly cruel and, I thought, kind of out of character, especially with these 2. Admittedly, it's been 3 years since I've last read any of the original books so I don't know how faithful that scene was to its source material, but, to me, the bad blood between them was really uncalled for.
And the last issue I had was that the ending seemed to drag on quite a bit. It felt almost like it was going at the same pace as the ending to Return Of The King, which is understandable as it pretty much has to wrap up every little detail and make sure everything is resolved. It's just a minor nitpick that I had with it.
Overall, though, even with those few elements that I had issue with, Mockingjay Part 2 is a solid movie. The characters are all interesting, the action engaging, and it leaves you wanting to know how it's going to end and, when it does end, it proves to be a proper send off to a great series. So, for that reason, I give Mockingjay Part 2 a 4/5 stars. Definitely go see this movie while it's still in theaters. You will not be disappointed.
And that was my review of Mockingjay Part 2 and, for those of you who've already seen it, what were your thoughts on the movie? Feel free to comment below and stay tuned next week when I'll be giving my review of the most anticipated movie of the year, Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens. This will hopefully be the start of a new series of movie reviews whenever I get the chance to see them. Hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you on the next post. Later.
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