Year: 2015
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, and Sam Claflin
Tagline: The fire will burn forever
Synopsis: As the rebels march on the Capitol, Katniss and a small squad steal forward with one mission in mind: kill President Snow.
Tagline: The fire will burn forever
Synopsis: As the rebels march on the Capitol, Katniss and a small squad steal forward with one mission in mind: kill President Snow.
Review
Do you ever eat something that tastes good in the moment but then leaves a bitter aftertaste? That's how Mockingjay Part 2 was for me.
At this point, if you've seen the other movies, you're going to see Mockingjay Part 2, if you haven't already. If you haven't seen the other movies, you shouldn't start here. This is very much a part 2 and makes no sense without part 1. It really doesn't even make much sense without the other movies as well. It's all one story.
The trouble is, it's not a story I like. It's grim; from Hunger Games to Mockingjay, it is a grim world and a grim story. In terms of the films (I haven't read the books) this is the grimmest of the four. Aside from the epilogue, there's only one point in the film that is hopeful: Finnick and Annie's wedding. Even that is brought down by Katniss' angst. Shouldn't that liveliness, that hope for the future be played up more? Isn't that what everyone is ultimately fighting for: a return to joy and living, rather than war and survival?
To make a story truly epic, you pit good versus evil, where good sacrifices and falls but ultimately triumphs over evil. This isn't good versus evil. It's more right versus wrong or (some form of) justice versus tyranny. The trouble with Mockingjay Part 2 is that it is all about defeating tyranny, getting revenge on Snow, and toppling the Capitol. It takes the overcoming evil part but uncouples it from the triumph of good. The good characters either die, are tainted, or are sidelined. Katniss' final speech rings hollow. She says she counts the good things people did. By the time I left the theater I was trying to remember any of those moments. They weren't emphasized or recollected. Even if she had just listed a few examples, it would have helped.
In addition to being grim, the movie was slow. It felt like the film simmered and simmered, but when the time came for a rolling boil ... it simmered then splashed and then simmered its way to the end.
As a film, it was well-made. The production values were top-notch as ever and the actors did a great job, especially Josh Hutcherson as the tormented Peeta. The music was good, but mostly in that it echoed a powerful scene from Mockingjay Part 1.
Put simply Mockingjay Part 2 was a good movie. I'll give it that. But it wasn't a great movie. Compared to its predecessor Catching Fire, it was a fizzle. I had expected more from the Girl on Fire.
*** Spoiler Section ***
A lot of characters die in these books/films. That's not a spoiler. Plenty of characters, including main characters die in Mockingjay. Boggs' death is sad. It felt like the film handled it well. Finnick's death is tragic (of all the characters, I found him most intriguing and likable). I prefer how he dies in the film to how I know he dies in the book. Still, part of me would have liked a little more closure with his death.
But the death that felt robbed of its power was Prim's. In the film, the aftermath is all about Katniss' grief for her sister. She's understandably upset. But it felt all about Katniss and less about Prim and what she stood for individually and symbolically. Prim is why Katniss volunteered in the first place. Prim is the embodiment of everything good worth fighting for in Panem. That Coin's Machiavellian tactic to end the war killed Prim is hugely symbolic. For me, the film portrayed it as another death and another reason for Katniss to be angry and move the story forward.
Maybe it's because she didn't get much screen time in Part 2, but Prim's death didn't have any emotional impact. She was just one more death in a grim movie filled with deaths. Yes, I knew she was going to die. But I also knew Dobby and Dumbledore were going to die; that didn't stop those deaths from hitting me in the feels when I watched Harry Potter.
At this point, if you've seen the other movies, you're going to see Mockingjay Part 2, if you haven't already. If you haven't seen the other movies, you shouldn't start here. This is very much a part 2 and makes no sense without part 1. It really doesn't even make much sense without the other movies as well. It's all one story.
The trouble is, it's not a story I like. It's grim; from Hunger Games to Mockingjay, it is a grim world and a grim story. In terms of the films (I haven't read the books) this is the grimmest of the four. Aside from the epilogue, there's only one point in the film that is hopeful: Finnick and Annie's wedding. Even that is brought down by Katniss' angst. Shouldn't that liveliness, that hope for the future be played up more? Isn't that what everyone is ultimately fighting for: a return to joy and living, rather than war and survival?
To make a story truly epic, you pit good versus evil, where good sacrifices and falls but ultimately triumphs over evil. This isn't good versus evil. It's more right versus wrong or (some form of) justice versus tyranny. The trouble with Mockingjay Part 2 is that it is all about defeating tyranny, getting revenge on Snow, and toppling the Capitol. It takes the overcoming evil part but uncouples it from the triumph of good. The good characters either die, are tainted, or are sidelined. Katniss' final speech rings hollow. She says she counts the good things people did. By the time I left the theater I was trying to remember any of those moments. They weren't emphasized or recollected. Even if she had just listed a few examples, it would have helped.
In addition to being grim, the movie was slow. It felt like the film simmered and simmered, but when the time came for a rolling boil ... it simmered then splashed and then simmered its way to the end.
As a film, it was well-made. The production values were top-notch as ever and the actors did a great job, especially Josh Hutcherson as the tormented Peeta. The music was good, but mostly in that it echoed a powerful scene from Mockingjay Part 1.
Put simply Mockingjay Part 2 was a good movie. I'll give it that. But it wasn't a great movie. Compared to its predecessor Catching Fire, it was a fizzle. I had expected more from the Girl on Fire.
*** Spoiler Section ***
A lot of characters die in these books/films. That's not a spoiler. Plenty of characters, including main characters die in Mockingjay. Boggs' death is sad. It felt like the film handled it well. Finnick's death is tragic (of all the characters, I found him most intriguing and likable). I prefer how he dies in the film to how I know he dies in the book. Still, part of me would have liked a little more closure with his death.
But the death that felt robbed of its power was Prim's. In the film, the aftermath is all about Katniss' grief for her sister. She's understandably upset. But it felt all about Katniss and less about Prim and what she stood for individually and symbolically. Prim is why Katniss volunteered in the first place. Prim is the embodiment of everything good worth fighting for in Panem. That Coin's Machiavellian tactic to end the war killed Prim is hugely symbolic. For me, the film portrayed it as another death and another reason for Katniss to be angry and move the story forward.
Maybe it's because she didn't get much screen time in Part 2, but Prim's death didn't have any emotional impact. She was just one more death in a grim movie filled with deaths. Yes, I knew she was going to die. But I also knew Dobby and Dumbledore were going to die; that didn't stop those deaths from hitting me in the feels when I watched Harry Potter.
Quotable Quotes
- "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 76th Hunger Games." -- Finnick Odair
- "Miss Everdeen, I thought we agreed never to lie to one another." -- President Snow to Katniss
- "Mockingjay, may your aim be as true as your heart is pure." -- President Coin
- "You always have to make everything difficult." -- Haymitch to Katniss
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