The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

The first half of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 feels stretched out, like the majority of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (ugh).

However, the story is actually pretty great. The final half of this film is possibly the best stretch in the franchise, as events come to conclusions that I don't think many people expected after that first book. It's mature, logical and thoughtful. Though like Harry Potter, I could have done without the epilogue.

It was neat to see the warped technology being used in the battlegrounds this time. We get glimpses of it throughout the first two films, but here it's used to great effect in some of the most tense scenes of the series. The lighting in the underground section especially was great.

I also have to give the film some slack. They clearly had to work around Philip Seymour Hoffman's tragic passing, the film would have been better with him in it. Though I think they did an admirable job, Plutarch is a great character and his presence is mostly felt.

I do have to commend Donald Sutherland and Jennifer Lawrence, they both give great performances that elevate their characters.

I still hate the stupid love triangle though.

So The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 is a film that I think I'll remember mostly for its ending. I don't know if I'll rewatch the franchise anytime soon, but I can appreciate the interesting route the story went. I understand a lot of people are upset about it, but it made a lot of sense thematically.

It's almost enough to make me want to reread the series, if only it wasn't all first person point of view from Katniss.

What began as a funny 'Battle Royal' for teens comes to a conclusion as one of the best blockbusters in recent memory. It's almost unbelievable how the tone progressively changed from the colorful brutality of the first film to the grayscale palate of a very real world portrayed in Mockingjay - Part 2.

The conclusion to 'The Hunger Games' saga is slow, dark and heavy. Starts gloomy and goes downhill from there. It feels anti-climatic and manages to achieve levels of tension only grasped by the previous films. All at the same time.

The fascinating thing about the film is how unexpected and unforgiven it is. The struggles feel real as do the consequences, and hopelessness permeates all of it.

The film has its shortcomings. It starts slows, drags a little on some scenes and contains some lazy writing, but other than that it's almost perfectly executed. Jennifer Lawrence is flawless as Katniss and majestically leads the devastating journey towards its conclusion.

Part 2 is bold and devastating. It may not be the conclusion some fans wanted, it sure wasn't what they're expected, but it's a way better conclusion than one could hope for.

A thank you note to Francis Lawrence for the eerie sewer tunnel scene, which plays as the love child of "Alien" and "The Descent" - very unusual in tone and something no one is expecting to watch in a blockbuster​ of this size.

OK,it's not that part 1 was good,you actually knew it would suck,but the 2nd really grinds my gears.

You have in your hands a civil war,the final battle into the heart of the capital,and you spent 2 hours of your life watching your main character taking a walk in a war zone.

And with all that time strolling,you have no character development,for none of them,just a few moments that the movie is like "Ok,from now on,that's how things are".

I watched this for closure,i wish i hadn't.

I didn't expected it to be a great movie,just a good action one,and it failed.Miserably. For goodness sake,London has fallen had more character development than a book based quadralogy,LOTR had less walking..good riddance to the series.

I love The Hunger Games trilogy mostly because it is so dark and brutal, and even if Katniss does what she has to do, she still suffers from everything that has happened. In a badly written version of the novels Katniss would behave like nothing ever bothered her, which would make her just seem violent and rash. When we know everything has gotten to her, we know what she is sensitive, we know that everything has actually touched her.

The most horrifying thing is when you realise how young Katniss actually is. The original point of the novel series was how kids were forced to fight in the arena, and how a kid actually became the most important person to the resistance. Think about when you were 17, would you have been able to unite people against your oppressors? That's a really horrifying thought - and that was the point Collins was trying to make. Jennifer Lawrence is excellent as Katniss. She portrays her social clumsiness well, but also her emotional weaknesses and her bravery. She's a great actress, but there should've been someone else playing her, someone younger (and Native), because then it would look as terrifying at it was meant to.

Not all the events from the novel were included in the Mockingjay part 1 or 2. It's understandable especially when it comes to the part 2. For example, Katniss, Finnick, Johanna and Peeta being trained for the war? It would take too much time to show everything, considering how long the film already was.

Some people are complaining about how they should've made the Mockingjay into a one film. I disagree. It is one film, but in two parts. And it works this way, because the second part starts so well - it starts exactly where it should start considering what happened in the end of Part 1. It works as two parts, and there was no need to wrap the story up any more. It was very dense already - things happen quickly but there is still time for important dialogue.

The music in these films is almost unreal because of how beautiful it is - and it still is astonishing in the last one.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2 is dark and brutal, but it has hope, some amazing hope that after all that darkness makes everything better. It's an amazing finale for the best young adult science fiction stories I have read or seen.

I feel weird that it's all over now. Suzanne Collins has created amazing characters who were portrayed so well over the years - or left out, as the case may be. Thanks for the ride, it has been amazing.

The franchise started with such promise but seemed to lessen with each film. In this one, the journey towards President Snow was laboured and repetitive. Character development was paint by numbers to non existent. Films 3 and 4 might have been more impactful if retained in one film. But we get the ending... that's something.