It's finally here, the final film in The Hunger Games franchise. Whether you've read the books or just enjoyed the films (or both), Mockingjay - Part 2 is a grim but satisfying end to a series of films that began three years ago.
In preparation, I watched Mockingjay - Part 1 the night before seeing Part 2, not only because I enjoyed the film but mostly because I couldn't even remember what had happened. So to those of you in the same boat, let's recap. At the end of Part 1, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) had successfully rallied the districts against the Capital, much to the satisfaction of President Coin (Julianne Moore) and Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and much to the frustration of President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Kidnapped victors Joanna (Jena Malone) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) had been rescued from the Capital, who had clearly been torturing them. In a devastating turn, Peeta was brainwashed by the Capital into hating Katniss and tries to kill her whenever possible.
This brings us to Part 2, the epic conclusion. Katniss must once and for all face and defeat President Snow and choose between her two suitors, fellow Hunger Games victor Peeta and childhood friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth). The great thing about The Hunger Games series is that even though a love triangle is central to the story, it is never treated as all that important by its heroine Katniss. She often remarks that she's more focused on not dying and stopping the atrocities of the Capital rather than figuring out who she'll choose. Like the rest of the films, Mockingjay - Part 2 is unforgivingly grim. It doesn't shy away from acknowledging the realities of war. Deaths are felt keenly and realistically by everyone involved and Katniss serves as the center of this pain.
Jennifer Lawrence is, as ever, the heart of these films as Katniss. When reading the books, I always got a sense that at some point Katniss had to turn off her emotions to deal with the atrocities she'd witnessed. But Lawrence imbues Katniss with a depth and range of emotions communicated through her expressive face in every scene. In this film, Katniss has to face a different Peeta. Suddenly she has to be strong for someone that always kept her strong. Hutcherson does a splendid job as Peeta and it is heartbreaking to watch Peeta struggle with sorting reality from Capital-implanted fiction. Their deft handling of their roles (which is to be expected after four films) makes an almost-hokey ending more bearable.
The film itself flies along, trying to fit a ton of action into 137 minutes. In the end, it creates one long series of events that meld into one another and held me on the edge of my seat, even though I knew what was going to happen. The only downside in the film staying so faithful to the book is that I found the same faults with it. Endings are difficult, especially in a dystopian series like this. (Don't even talk to me about the ending of the Divergent series.) With the same script on the screen, I still felt like there were bigger pieces missing. While I care about Katniss and her happiness, we don't really get to see what Panem looks like in a post-President-Snow world. We hear parts and bits but it still ends up feeling a little lacking. With so many likeable characters thrown into the mix and so many moving parts to the plot, it becomes logistically impossible to find out what happens to everyone and tie up each loose end. While clearly Katniss and Peeta are the stars, the film ends up feeling incomplete.
Still, Mockingjay - Part 2 is a fitting end to a successful franchise for fans of the films and/or books. Lawrence and Hutcherson shine and it's bittersweet to see Hoffman on screen again. Now, let's just hope the studio doesn't try and drag this out further by making a theme park and completely going against the point of the film series.
