The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

I really wish Hollywood would cut the crap with these unnecessary split up finales. Mockingjay was one book for a reason people, and that was still one book too many.

Mockingjay Part 2, the finale of the Hunger Games quadrilogy, picks up literally right after the end of Part 1, and boy have things gotten depressing. Katiness Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), the Mockingjay and face of the rebel uprising against President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and the Capitol, needs to find a way to end this senseless war before things get worse for the Districts and everyone involved. With friends who have been with her since the beginning and friends who have joined at some point along the way, Katiness and company decide to infiltrate the Capitol to take down Snow once and for all and bring peace to Panem.

This movie is depressing as Hell. I mean the entire idea of this series kind of is, kids pitted against each other to fight till the death and all, but at least the first two films were handled in more of an action movie type of way that did justice to the awesome idea they presented. These last two films? Not so much.

Based solely on the progression of this series, the Mockingjay set of films was, by default, going to feel different than their predecessors. These are war films now, make no mistake, and come complete with all the bells and whistles this type of genre brings along with it. There are a lot of characters that silently stare off into space with sad eyes and tightened lips, lots of tears for dead comrades and time spent reflecting on past and future problems with no smiles or humor to speak of. Even Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) and Effie (Elizabeth Banks), the ones who usually have something sarcastic or funny to say, are rarely seen or heard from and do little more than succumb to the weight of what is going on around them, leaving very little to break up all the darkness going on throughout the movie.

That being said, this movie feels like it’s going through the motions. Every scene feels long and drawn out, every line of dialogue and conversation seem to be extended and repeated over and over like a broken record. We get that Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) has been brainwashed to try and kill Katiness, we get that she has to choose between him or Gale (Liam Hemsworth) even though they’re in the middle of a warzone, and we understand that everyone needs to take down Snow ASAP before he goes even crazier than usual. We get it! Stop filling up precious movie time to hammer that shit home. More or less these are the same themes and plot threads and problems that we have been following since the original movie, and it’s fine to slow down and take notice of these problems when needed, but after one scene addresses it, no more should really be needed unless the story calls for it, which most of the time it doesn’t.

Reminding the audience every five seconds about what is going on is an annoying way to pad out the film and like Part 1 before it, the entire movie’s pace suffers for it. Most of the time it crawls along at a snail’s pace only to give way to a big action set piece that truly astounds, only to then drop back into a depressing rut to have the characters sit around and do nothing for a few minutes.

Speaking of nothing, I liked Part 1 just about the same as Part 2, but after watching this film I feel like, while a perfectly fine movie in its own right, Part 1 really didn’t amount to much. The only real important carry over from that film is Peeta’s brainwashing thing, and other than that, I don’t really think anything in Part 1 affected the way I watched or thought about this film at all. Again, another reason why splitting movies into two when it’s not needed is a bad idea.

Lastly, if I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the book this film is based on. I didn’t like the way it felt in regards to the other books and I didn’t like the way Katiness did little more than stand around to just get told what to do and I absolutely hated the ending. This film does a lot to improve on the book, namely giving Katiness more of a voice to speak out against being used as a pawn, but it still falls in the same holes the book dug for itself.

The ending is still the same and the way things play out is almost identical, but where the film succeeds is how it brings to life the various traps that Snow places across the Capitol. These scenes are super exciting and satisfying to watch, the underground sequence in particular being a standout for its brutal action and tense build-up. Say what you will about the movie as a whole, but director Francis Lawrence shows that he still knows what he’s doing when it comes to bringing this world to life.

Now that this franchise is over (unless those prequel rumors are true), I’d really like to see Part 1 and Part 2 spliced together with all the extra and unnecessary scenes and filler axed because I truly believe that there’s a great movie somewhere in these muddled films. Here’s hoping Lionsgate releases some sort of “definitive” edition in the future that does this finale justice.