The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Review

The year that the Twilight Saga ended a gap in the market opened up. Ready to reach out to those fans left empty after the ending of both the Harry Potter series and then Twilight was a new film series, The Hunger Games. The first film was incredibly striking, it was much more than the romance that defined the daftness and tediousness of the Twilight films, and it felt more grounded than the wizardy world of Harry Potter. The Hunger Games was presenting complex political ideas, moral issues and violence that were more akin to Battle Royale, it was merely posing as a teen film, this was something much more.

                The sequel came next which was just as impressive as the first and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire managed to improve on its predecessor’s box office haul of $694million, taking in a whopping $865million, it was fair to say that the teen market was officially tapped. Then came the announcement that the final Hunger Games instalment would be split into 2 parts. This decision had also taken place with both Potter and Twilight, and though producers will argue that it was for creative decisions, there is no question that the decision was for cynical financial gain. Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One was a very poor film, lacking in any form of narrative structure it meandered all over the place leaving it rather dull, they must, thought many, be saving it all for the final film.

                Mockingjay Part 2 picks up exactly where part one left off, Peeta has been rescued from the capitol though he is suffering from severe mental trauma after being tortured and has been brainwashed into hating Katniss. District 13 run by their questionable president Alma Coyne (Julianne Moore) are going to make a push for the capitol in order to finally overthrow President Snow (Donald Sutherland), where they will put in place their new order. Katniss heads to the capitol as part of a team who seek to ignore their orders and get to Snow before anyone else does.

                It’s fair to say that after the time wasted in the previous film, the big set pieces have definitely been saved for this outing. There is fantastic fun to be had in the scenes set in the capitol, which has been rigged into a labyrinth of increasingly bizarre and fascinating booby traps. The design of the capitol is really impressive and a sequence involving an attempt to drown Katniss’ team in oil is creepily beautiful. A brilliantly tense moment set in the sewers of the capitol seems to draw from Neil Marshall’s The Descent which is a bold move in a film aimed towards younger viewers. Given that director Francis Lawrence’s previous credentials include the unimpressive I am Legend, and the not that much better Constantine, it was surprising to see such a brilliantly directed climax, the final assault on Snow’s mansion starts with great tension and builds to a sequence that feels like it came from the someone like Cuaron rather than Lawrence.

                It’s political ideas are still strongly present, events during the final act of the film begin to reflect on the complex nature of morality during wartime, just as the previous films had focused on the morality during the games. As the film draws to its close it becomes difficult to determine whether the villains of the film are the revolution or the establishment, and deciding who the bad side is doesn’t necessarily mean that the others are good by default.

                Jennifer Lawrence continues to show why she is the highest paid actress in Hollywood and she is surrounded by brilliant actors in great supporting roles. Solid if not overly showy in the previous films Josh Hutcherson really shines in this one, in what is a really difficult role, handling the moments of torment as Peeta is trying to remember what’s real and not-real as he recovers from his torture is impressive. Donald Sutherland and Julianne Moore are effortless in their roles, and in his final role before his sad passing Phillip Seymour-Hoffman is both quiet and affecting.

                Part 2 is substantially better than Part 1, but it still suffers from the split and this feels, to a lesser extent than the first, like an unbalanced film. Despite the time they’ve taken over the 2 films, major characters deaths seem rushed and brushed over, and the action of this part could do with a bit (but not too much) of the passiveness of part one. This part also seems to be the guiltiest of forcing the love triangle that really never existed, Gale (Liam Hemsworth) is one of the least interesting characters of the series and to try and form a triangle between Katniss, Gale and Peeta really detracts from Katniss, and its half-cocked attempt at doing so begins to detract from the film.

                The final moments of the film begin to feel like something really ambitious and very interesting particularly in some of the decisions that Katniss makes. But then the film continues, and the ending begins to turn to the ending that you expected it would go for, it’s not a terrible conclusion, but if it had taken a risk and ended ten minutes earlier it would have been more memorable.

                The cynicism of Hollywood suits have damaged this film series, what could have been one brilliant film has been split into a poor film and a great film, which means what could have been an exceptional trilogy is now a great series of 4 films. Reservations aside however, one must pause and think of the nature of these films, and how unlike other teen franchises it never patronised. It’s difficult to see what will fill the teen void following this, The Mortal Instruments came, saw and then quietly ran away to the corner, Divergent and its sequels are attempting something similar, but they make no sense and are barely washing their face at the box office. And with the unimpressive takings of The Maze Runner films, The Hunger Games has shown that this teen market might be more difficult to tap next time. (High 4 Stars)