The last chapter of The Hunger Games series was released a few weeks ago, and was the star of one of TU’s Hurricane Thursdays. While it was action packed and far more eventful than part one, Mockingjay, Part Two never really took off like the first two movies, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.
Taking from the success Harry Potter received when it split its conclusion, Lionsgate tore Suzanne Collins’ already shaky finale in two for the sake of profit. While that decision could have provided more time to expand on characters and provide closure for controversial topics within the book, the film stuck to its guns and merely ran its course.
The film does have its moments, especially when it comes to action. The mutts are disgustingly horrifying, and the traps were anxiety inducing. In fact, there were several times where I found myself at the edge of my seat because no one, save Katniss, was truly safe. Since the original The Hunger Games formula had been used twice, it seemed fitting to put it in for one last time, with the inclusion of the booby traps in the Capitol, and it provided a man versus nature aspect that’s so prominent in the other films.
The film also did a great job with giving dimension to minor characters from the previous films like Effie Trinket and Johanna Mason. All the characters have some dimension or a reason to be in this film, and that doesn’t always occur, especially in action flicks. The leads also soared with the content that was given to them, although Liam Hemsworth could’ve stepped up his game a little bit. In the books I rooted for Gale, but in the film it was clear that Peeta was the better match.
The film falls short due to its overuse of sentiments. The script is, in the nicest word, cheesy, and while that’s not a horrible thing, it’s not too great either. All the lines are meant to be inspiring and meaningful, and while that was probably inevitable due to it being the end, the film relies on it far too heavily. It quickly turns into a recap of everything going on and there aren’t any new ideas, just rallying cries for events that have already happened. There’s a need to give the audience closure, but perhaps it was too much. This is especially prominent in the last scene (be prepared to laugh) and after the tunnels.
It also had an issue with logic. Certain situations throughout the film just didn’t make sense, and while I refuse to spoil, it seems to me that a huge colosseum looks like the perfect place to make a trap, and maybe going through it isn’t the best idea out there. The resistance is unrealistic too, and given the chance, the Capitol could’ve easily destroyed them. Also, when someone is thrown at a wall with extreme force, usually they’re left with at least a couple of bruises.
Overall, the film isn’t terrible. It probably won’t be remembered in 30 years, but it’s still worth the action scenes. It just isn’t all that good when it came to a story. In fact it had a large resemblance to Lionsgate’s other film series Divergent in the sense it was pretty to look at but also without depth. If you enjoy blockbuster series, loud noises and inspirational quotes on Instagram, this film is perfect. If you don’t like all three of those, you’re really not going to enjoy it much. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two is an intense, big budget, overall good time, just don’t expect it to be the next great movie masterpiece.
