The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -
Part 2 (2015) / Action-Sci Fi
MPAA Rated: PG-13 for intense
sequences of violence and action, and for some thematic material
Running Time: 137 min.
Cast: Jennifer
Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Julianne
Moore, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Willow Shields, Sam
Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Mahershala Ali, Jena Malone, Natalie Dormer,
Evan Ross, Elden Henson, Wes Chatham, Patina Miller Small role: Jeffrey
Wright, Stanley Tucci Director: Francis Lawrence
Screenplay: Peter Craig, Danny Strong (based on the book, "Mockingjay", by
Suzanne Collins) Review published November 20, 2015
The
Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2is the fourth and final film based on the
Suzanne Collins trilogy of young adult novels, and the story, as it
reaches its big climax, shifts more into a war flick and less a sci-fi
based cautionary tale, as it becomes a game of survival to see if
Katniss (Lawrence,Serena)
can stay alive long enough to capture and kill the villainous
President Coriolanus Snow (Sutherland,Horrible Bosses). It's a
decidedly darker film, not only in themes, but also in delivery, as
the high-gloss shine of the aristocracy becomes dismantled by
revolution, and what's left of the Capitol is a mostly empty wasteland
of deadly booby-traps set up by the craft game-makers (they've dubbed
this the 'unofficial 76th Hunger Games'), forcing the small band to
evade explosive landmines, powerful gun turrets, floods of hot oil,
murderous humanoid mutants (called Mutts), and other nastier
concoctions to achieve their ultimate mission. To complete her
task, Katniss defies the explicit instructions given to her from
leader of the rebellion, President Alma Coin (Moore, Seventh Son), to remain a tool of
propaganda by actually taking a small but trustworthy faction of
mainly prior Hunger Games survivors out to the battlefield to
infiltrate the Capitol and put an end to the tyrannical reign of Snow
over the 13 districts of Panem.
As with the other film
adaptations of the popular Collins novels, the strength of
Mockingjay - Part 2 comes from its stellar cast of actors, who
are able to occasionally breathe life into some fairly weak
characterizations and rudimentary bits of dialogue. Jennifer
Lawrence, in particular, has most of the film's pathos riding on her
shoulders, and it's to her credit that she gives her part her all,
despite what must be, at this stage of her career, a truly
two-dimensional role unworthy of an Oscar-caliber performer at its
heart. If you feel at all for Katniss Everdeen, it's Lawrence
that sells you on her, because it's skimpily developed goods if based
solely on what's there on the written page. Donald Sutherland
ups his game, looking like he's having the time of his life in his
portrayal of the duplicitous Snow, as his intentions and execution
begins to become a bit cloudier as the storyline progresses, and as
his empire begins to rattle under the weight of the onslaught of the
rebellion. Julianne Moore is always solid, but the film is yet
another reminder of how much we miss the presence of Philip Seymour
Hoffman (A Most Wanted Man),
who died before all of his part was completed; his absence is
especially evident during a key moment in the film in which he was
meant to deliver some poignant and erudite words, left anticlimactic
due the fact that it's not read aloud without any sense of passion as
part of an impersonal formal letter.
Unfortunately, for
much of the run time, the supporting characters we enjoy best are
pushed to the sidelines in favor of the immediate crew around Katniss,
who are just not as compelling, which is, in no small degree, due to
the misguided financial decision to cut the final book of the series
into two parts for film. Characters we enjoy are off screen,
while characters we can barely distinguish from one another get more
screen time than would ever have been deemed necessary, resulting in
an imbalance in our interest in seeing where things go without the
kind of momentum it would normally have as part of a complete and
concise tale. It also allows for far more cloying scenes
involving whether Katniss will ultimately choose blandly defined Gale
(Hemsworth,Love and Honor)or a mentally unstable Peeta (Hutcherson,
Epic)as a mate, which, in the face of the potential
deaths of all of them and everything they hold dear, seems like it
shouldn't have even entered the conversation. Has anybody ever
though that a film as relatively superficial and artless as The Hunger Games would be better
if we could see two entire hours of what would have been deleted
scenes in a one-movie adaptation?
The other problem
with the film is that, with a legion of fans of the novel to appease,
it can't deviate too much from the source material, and,
unfortunately, many readers consider"Mockingjay" to be the
weakest entry in the book trilogy, and with an unsatisfactory
epilogue. Alas, despite some well-mounted action sequences in
the middle of the film, it's hard to generate actual suspense and
chills when the movies haven't done a great job at giving us rounded
characters we can believe in, or a compelling story we can be truly
invested into. Who lives and who dies at the end becomes less
important than whether there is a fitting end to all of the build-up,
and while this final entry will do justice for those who want no
deviation from the book, it comes at the expense of the overall story
because, quite frankly, the story doesn't seem particularly worthy of
four-blockbuster motion-picture saga to begin with.
Whether the film
will satisfy or dissatisfy you will likely depend on what you expect
going into it, but I will say that I'm content enough with how it has
played out, even if I question whether it deserves such fan fervor.
After four films in four years of middling interest with characters I
still could scarcely care a lick about, I'm also fatigued enough with
this franchise to be satisfied with letting it end here, even if I'm
cynical enough to expect more town the pike when the studio gets
hungry for another tent-pole release a few years down the road. As
with the rest of the series, it's passable entertainment, but one in
which is popular as films because it's a phenomenon much more so than
because it's truly inspirational film-making.
The
Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
