Random Article


 
Event News
 

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” Makes a Satisfying Enough End to the Franchise

 

 
Overview
 

Directed by: Francis Lawrence
 
Produced by: Nina Jacobson
 
Written By: Danny Strong and Suzanne Collins
 
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour-Hoffman, Julianne Moore, and Donald Sutherland.
 
MTRCB Rating: PG
 
Genre:
 
FG RATING
8.0
8/ 10


User Rating
no ratings yet

 

Raves


A Satisfying conclusion to the franchise, mostly Great Performances by the cast, some solid action sequences,

Rants


Repetitiveness, Minor pacing issues


Splitting the grand finale to two parts is quite the trend lately for a beloved YA book-to-movie franchise. Thanks to the success of the Breaking Dawn and Deathly Hallows two-parters, producers cash in on that idea on having more of the money of its audience by stretching the source material. It may have worked for […]

0
Posted November 21, 2015 by

 
FULL REVIEW
 
 

Mockingjay-Part-2-final-Poster

Splitting the grand finale to two parts is quite the trend lately for a beloved YA book-to-movie franchise. Thanks to the success of the Breaking Dawn and Deathly Hallows two-parters, producers cash in on that idea on having more of the money of its audience by stretching the source material. It may have worked for a 700-something page book like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows but a 395 page book for Suzanne Collin’s Mockingjay? Not exactly.

Plot Summary:

In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Panem is now in a full-scale war against the Capitol; with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) alongside her friends Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) and the rest of the rebels behind them. They are now in the front line of the war as they infiltrate a heavily defensed Capitol in order to defeat President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

Review:

mockingjay-2The games are now over as the second installment, Catching Fire promised as we are now at the brink of war… And we ended up getting stuck in a claustrophobic setting in the next movie. Only to be welcomed to a slow burn and almost uneventful movie despite the interesting social commentary it was given to in Mockingjay Part 1. Now in Part 2, we are in the war itself but it was left being a formulaic climax that took up most of the film’s runtime. As a reader of the books, the movie would’ve been perfect as a super-sized three hour finale to me for the film to be more consistent than just being standalone two-parters. But alas, the producer’s greed became a huge factor to the film’s success to tell a remarkable conclusion to a beloved franchise.

The movie as a whole in this second part was ultimately an hour long climax; and the spectacle was quite entertaining with the trailers showing scenes of the traps laid by Snow’s forces coming to life from page to screen. There was intensity brought to the film here. In fact there were scenes so intense the haunting deaths made you question why the MTRCB rated this as “PG”. Francis Lawrence has established his vision of continuing the franchise to a much darker turn than it being just another YA sci-fi movie as the franchise started. And he did succeed by taking off the kid gloves by not shying away from such brutal imagery to forward the theme of this movie concerning the consequences of war towards its casualties. But unfortunately for its main cast of leading characters there wasn’t enough of the emotionality of said deaths as the people who mostly died in this film is cannon fodder and only a couple making a mark for the emotional “oomph” towards its characters.

121011993j.15856Jennifer Lawrence is far from being the fresh faced star she was in the first Hunger Games movie even in that same year she has established herself as a true actress in David O’ Russel’s Silver Linings Playbook. Considering that the book Katniss was reliant of inner monologue to explain the readers her struggle, she yet again shows her emotional conflicts by her performance masterfully. More so she continues to give Katniss Everdeen the same vulnerability and strength as the face of the rebellion but above all continues to prove why she deserved to be the face of the franchise.

Hutcherson’s Peeta Mellark makes a compelling character this time around, as he fights his own reality after an extensive period of being tortured under the Capitol, this is one of those rare times where Hutcherson disappeared to a role. Hemsworth was the weakest performer in this one, making absolutely no importance to the movie than to be off-character for the most part of the film. Sutherland’s Snow and Moore’s Coin were able to play off each other really well in one scene as they start to show their true colors in this movie. The rest of the cast, Philip Seymour Hoffman Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Jenna Malone, and even Sam Clafin only share a small amount of screen time throughout the entire movie but they were able to chew their scenes when they do make an appearance.

Conclusion:

In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Francis Lawrence continues to fuel the series with intrigue, intensity, and emotion best captured by the cast. As the curtains close, the film left us a satisfying thrill ride for both fans of the books and the movies.

 

 

 

 


GP Manalo

 
G.P. Manalo is a student by day, and a resident tortured writer by night. Writing to keep him sane from all the Business School papers and presentations piling up each week.


0 Comments



Be the first to comment!


Leave a Response

(required)