The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015) review

While most film franchises based off of ‘Young Adult’ book series have had mixed results in terms of financial and critical success, with some not even making it past one film, ‘The Hunger Games’ series, based off of the books of the same name by Suzanne Collins, has easily been the most successful of these franchises since it started three years ago. With its strong story and characters, the series is very much deserving of its status of being a ‘global phenomenon’ just like ‘Harry Potter’ was in the decade before the release of the first ‘Hunger Games’ film in 2012. Though for most people, the series really established itself as a premier franchise with its second installment, ‘Catching Fire’. For the record, the first film was very much a critical and commercial success when it was released in March 2012 but it did attract some polarizing responses from audiences, mostly due to the film’s ‘shaky cam’ style and rapid editing during the action sequences. But as for ‘Catching Fire’, the first in the series to be directed by Francis Lawrence (no relation to series star Jennifer Lawrence), it’s pretty much universally regarded as the better film, which is rather ironic considering that the book it was based off of was arguably the least popular entry of the series. The success of ‘Catching Fire’ resulted in Lawrence being brought back to direct the final installment of the series, ‘Mockingjay’. But then things got a bit controversial when it was announced that ‘Mockingjay’ would be split into two films.

Of course the practice of splitting the final installment of a series into two films was kick-started by the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise when it split its final book, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, into two films. But ultimately the reason why that was actually a good thing was because the book did have enough material to justify two films. Other franchises then followed suit but it was clear that these series’ final installments weren’t big enough to be split into two films. That was very much true with the ‘Twilight’ series with ‘Breaking Dawn’ and without them even being released yet, the same will clearly be said for the ‘Divergent’ series with ‘Allegiant’ and its second part, ‘Ascendant’. As for ‘The Hunger Games’, the same general argument came up; that ‘Mockingjay’ simply didn’t have enough in it for two films. I on the other hand was a bit more optimistic after coming across an article that stated that the main reason why this decision was made was so that the filmmakers could expand upon the plot in ways that Collins couldn’t when she wrote the book due to the limitation of having to cram it all into just one book. Ultimately though, the skepticism towards this decision still stood and that was made even more evident by the less positive reaction towards last year’s ‘Mockingjay Part 1’, though I felt that it was still really good even if it was more about the series’ politics than the action. Now we finally come to the last installment of the ‘Hunger Games’ film series, ‘Mockingjay Part 2’, and… I finally see why this should’ve just been one film. For the record, I still really liked this film like I did the previous three but ultimately I feel that this is the weakest of the series as the complications of ‘Mockingjay’ being split into two films finally start to take effect.

‘Part 1’ of ‘Mockingjay’ saw Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), survivor of the 74^th and 75^th ‘Hunger Games’, slowly but surely becoming the ‘Mockingjay’, the face of the growing rebellion of the citizens of Panem against the Capitol and their dictatorial leader, President Snow (Donald Sutherland). During this time, Katniss’ main love interest Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), who had been captured by the Capitol during the events of ‘Catching Fire’ and turned into a ‘puppet’ for Snow, had been rescued but was revealed to have been brainwashed by Snow in order to kill Katniss. As Part 2 begins, the rebels truly begin their attack on the Capitol but after they destroy the Capitol’s primary weapons supply in District 2, Katniss’ request to go after Snow is declined by rebel leader President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), who tells her that she will instead be maintained as the symbol of the revolution. Going against Coin’s orders, Katniss sneaks into District 2 where she is assigned into ‘Star Squad 451’, along with her best friend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) and, later on, Peeta, despite the fact that his ‘brainwashing’ is still partially in effect, therefore making him a liability for the squad. Despite this, Katniss ventures forward to the Capitol in order to finally kill President Snow and bring his tyrannical rule to an end. But after a while, she and her closest friends and allies soon begin to truly be affected by the horrors that have come from this war between the Rebels and the Capitol.

Whereas ‘Mockingjay Part I’ was more about the political side to the growing rebellion and the propaganda that both the Rebels and the Capitol were spreading in order to sway people to their sides, ‘Mockingjay Part 2’ is very much focused on the action. And with that in mind, the action sequences are pretty darn good. The film is definitely well-directed just like the previous two films, proving that the addition of Francis Lawrence as director was arguably the best thing that could’ve ever happened to this franchise. However, while the film is very much well-directed, the plot sort of suffers a bit compared to previous films. To put it bluntly, the film’s emotional beats don’t really hit on the level that the film was trying to achieve. This is primarily the result of two things; A.) The aforementioned ‘action-oriented’ pacing and B.) The fact that the film is primarily focused around Katniss. Katniss is very much the main character of the film and is in nearly every scene in the film. But because she’s focused on so much, there are times where she actually overshadows some of the other characters. Certain characters like Johanna and Haymitch are only in the film for brief amounts of time and this gets even more problematic when other characters end up biting the dust. Don’t worry I won’t reveal who dies for those who haven’t read the book but with that said, I feel that the major deaths in this film didn’t really get the attention that they should’ve gotten, particularly a very important death that should be very personal to Katniss and yet really only gets one major scene in which she is shown to be heavily affected by it.

The best thing that comes from the film’s overt focus on Katniss is that, because she truly is the main star of the film, this is very much Jennifer Lawrence’s film. She’s always been terrific in the role, even though the character sort of lost her edge in the first ‘Mockingjay’ film due to her being so concerned about making sure Peeta was rescued from the Capitol. Thankfully that isn’t as much an issue this time, however, and this can literally be described as a case where Jennifer Lawrence is both figuratively and literally carrying the film, and pretty much the entire franchise, on her back. The only other member of the cast who gets screen-time that’s anywhere close to Lawrence’s is Josh Hutcherson as Peeta. Hutcherson has definitely grown the most out of anyone in this cast to the point where I’d argued that he was actually the standout of ‘Mockingjay Part I’. Hutcherson is equally terrific here as Peeta might actually have more to work with than Lawrence given the fact that the character continually runs the risk of jeopardizing the whole mission due to his brainwashing by one of cinema’s best villains in recent years. Yes Donald Sutherland has been particularly great in these films as the truly despicable SOB Snow, who somehow always manages to maintain his cool no matter what the situation is. Of course the rest of the cast is great as well, as they’ve been throughout the entire series, but as I noted earlier, quite a few of these characters are generally downplayed in favor of Katniss.

Despite what I’ve said in this review, I want to make it clear that I do not ‘hate’ this film. I still really like it for a lot of the things that made the previous films great. Francis Lawrence’s direction is once again excellent, the film has some really well-done action sequences, and the film’s cast is outstanding, particularly Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Donald Sutherland. But at the same time, this actually ends up being my least favorite of the four films and ultimately this is because I now realize that this really should’ve just been one film. And I’m not saying that because the first film was more focused on the politics and this film was more action-oriented. The real reason why I think this should’ve been one film is because due to this film’s action-heavy pacing, most of the set-up for this film was a result of the first film, meaning that there’s not as much character development in this one. And because the film is focused more on Katniss than anyone else, certain character deaths don’t get as much focus as they should’ve gotten. In other words, if this was just one film, then maybe the characters that do die would’ve gotten more screen-time and therefore their deaths would’ve been more impactful. Again, I do still like the film and very much feel that ‘The Hunger Games’ is easily the best franchise of its ‘genre’ after ‘Harry Potter’, even though I don’t like referring to the latter as being part of the ‘Young Adult’ genre. But ultimately ‘Mockingjay Part 2’, while it does do its job at being the finale to this franchise, doesn’t really deliver on the epic finality that it was trying to achieve.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Hunger Games: The Story So Far

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! Today I’m going to be doing something a little bit different that may end up being the start of a new series on this website. The final installment of the ‘Hunger Games’ series, ‘Mockingjay Part 2’, will be out soon and because I have already done reviews for all three of the previous ‘Hunger Games’ films, obviously doing a retrospective post would be completely redundant. But I did want to do something as a way of commemorating the impending release of the new film so I decided to do a post that would do either one of two things for people; either refresh their memory of the previous films or, in the case of newcomers, get them ‘up-to-speed’ with everything that has happened so far. Because as we all know, franchises have become a huge thing nowadays and some can go on for a while, to the point where it could potentially get a bit confusing for those who are going into this films fresh. So consider this the first in a series of posts that I like to call ‘The Story So Far’. And today, I’ll be recapping what has so happened so far in the ‘Hunger Games’ franchise beginning with 2012’s titular first installment and concluding with the most recent release, 2014’s ‘Mockingjay Part I’. Whether you’re a die-hard fan of the series or someone who doesn’t know a single thing about it, this post will help you with pretty much everything you need to know in time for the finale to the saga of Katniss Everdeen, the ‘girl on fire’.

‘Hunger Games’, based off of the book series of the same name by author Suzanne Collins, takes place in the dystopian world of Panem, which is established as being located within the ruins of North America. Panem consists of the lavish and extravagant city/totalitarian government that is ‘the Capitol’ and the oppressed and much poorer 12 districts that surround it. The ‘Hunger Games’ that the series is named for is an annual event that the Capitol holds as a means of punishing the districts after a rebellion 74 years earlier had resulted in the Capitol defeating the rebellion and the 13^th District supposedly being destroyed. Every year, one young boy and girl from each District are selected as ‘Tributes’ to partake in a nationally televised duel to the death. As the first ‘Hunger Games’ begins, it is the year of the 74^th Hunger Games and in the poorest district of all, District 12, young Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) prepares for the annual Reaping ceremony along with her sister Prim (Willow Shields). Prim is scared to be chosen but Katniss assures her that it won’t happen because it’s her first time participating in the Reaping and unlike the older kids who have been in multiple Reapings, her name has only been entered in once. But as fate would have it, when the Reaping occurs, Capitol representative Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) ends up selecting Prim’s name.

Not wanting to lose her sister, Katniss boldly volunteers to take her place as the female representative of District 12. Along with male representative Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), the son of the local baker who had once helped Katniss years earlier by giving her bread when she was starving, Katniss is immediately whisked away to the Capitol. The two are placed under the mentorship of District 12’s only winner, the drunken Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), who’s key piece of advice for them is to attract sponsors who will help them during the games by sending them gifts while they’re in the arena. He also warns them about the ‘Career Tributes’ from Districts 1 and 2 who are much more prepared for the games than they are, having been trained for them from a young age, and are basically the fan favorites. When they arrive at the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta begin their training for the Games while also attempting to attract sponsors, as Haymitch suggested. Katniss quickly ends up becoming a crowd favorite, primarily due to both her bold sacrifice to save her sister as well as the reveal by Peeta that he is in love with her during the live interviews with TV host Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci).

When the 74^th Hunger Games begin, Katniss narrowly survives the bloodbath that occurs at the start as a result of most of the Tributes trying to grab supplies at the Cornucopia located at the center of the arena. Katniss manages to stay clear of the other Tributes for a while but ends up getting brought back into the action by Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley), who drives her back with a forest fire controlled by him and his fellow Gamemakers. She then escapes from the Career Tributes as well as, to her surprise, Peeta, who has apparently formed an alliance with them (though ultimately this was just him trying to ‘gain their trust’). With the help of District 11 tribute Rue, Katniss manages to kill District 1 Tribute Glimmer, steal her bow, which is the weapon that Katniss works with the best, and destroys the hoard of supplies that the Careers have been collecting. Sadly, Rue ends up getting killed by District 1 Tribute Marvel, who Katniss then kills in retaliation, and her emotional grieving causes a riot in District 11. In response to this, Haymitch suggests to Seneca a rule change that would allow two winners if both come from the same district. After this change is announced, Katniss finds Peeta and the two outlast all of the remaining tributes. But when Crane changes the rules back to there being only one winner, the two defy the Capitol by threatening to commit suicide via poisonous berries. Quickly named the co-winners of the 74^th Hunger Games, the two return home to District 12 though they are warned that their actions aren’t going over too well with Panem’s ruler, President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland).

The second film, ‘Catching Fire’, opens as Katniss and Peeta are preparing to go on a Victory Tour through the other districts. But before that happens, Katniss is visited by Snow at her home, who makes it clear that her rebellious actions have not only caused uprisings across Panem but have also put her and her loved ones in danger. This forces Katniss to have to convince Snow that her romance with Peeta in the arena was true and not just a means of defying the Capitol. But even after the Tour is done, which ultimately does nothing to stop the uprisings despite Katniss and Peeta’s best efforts, Snow and new Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) develop a new plan to both subdue the uprisings and get rid of Katniss via the 75^th Hunger Games AKA the third ‘Quarter Quell’, a special Hunger Games that occurs every 25 years where a special rule change is instituted. Snow announces that this year’s Quarter Quell will consist entirely of surviving victors and because Katniss is the only female victor from District 12, this of course means that she’s forced back into the arena once again. Katniss and Haymitch try to keep Peeta from having to compete again as well but during the Reaping, Peeta volunteers to take Haymitch’s place when the latter is initially chosen as the male tribute. The two return to the Capitol to once again prepare for the Games. This time around, Haymitch advises them to make alliances with some of the other Tributes, telling them that they’re all angry at the Capitol for making them compete in the Hunger Games a second time.    

Despite all of the attempts made by the Tributes to try and sway the citizens of the Capitol to protest the Games in the hopes of stopping them, the 75^th Hunger Games start without a hitch. Katniss and Peeta ally themselves with charming District 4 champion Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin), his elderly mentor Mags (Lynn Cohen), tech-savvy District 3 Champions Beetee (Jeffrey Wright) and Wiress (Amanda Plummer), and fiery District 7 champion Johanna Mason (Jena Malone) as they try to survive in this new arena that is divided into 12 sections like a clock where each section contains a different kind of hazard ranging from angry monkeys to a poisonous fog. Beetee comes up with an idea to defeat the remaining Tributes by using the electrified tree hazard to electrocute them. But when that plan fails, Katniss instead uses the lightning to destroy the arena’s force-field and as the arena crumbles around her, she is extracted by an airship commanded by members of the rebellion, including Haymitch and Plutarch. They tell her that they’re on the way to District 13 so that she can become the face of the rebellion; the ‘Mockingjay’, named after a mockingbird/jabberjay (blackbirds) hybrid species symbolized by a pin that Katniss wore during the Games. However Katniss is discouraged to learn that Peeta wasn’t rescued along with her and was captured by the Capitol along with Johanna. After being sedated after angrily attacking Haymitch for not protecting Peeta, Katniss is told by her best friend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) that while her family is safe, District 12 has been destroyed.

As it turns out, District 13, the district that was apparently destroyed during the original rebellion against the Capitol, had survived by relocating to an underground facility. There, Katniss meets the leader of the district, President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) who, along with Plutarch, encourage her to become the ‘Mockingjay’ for the growing rebellion. Katniss is at first reluctant to do so given the fact that Peeta was abandoned in the arena but then changes her mind after seeing that Peeta is alive but is being manipulated into being a pawn for the Capitol in order to quell the rebellion. She agrees to be the face of the rebellion on the grounds that Peeta and the other captured tributes be rescued at the earliest opportunity. With the aid of Gale and her new film team, Katniss begins to inspire the citizens of Panem into fighting back against the Capitol by means of rousing video speeches and a song called ‘The Hanging Tree’ that Katniss learned from her father, who died in a mining accident prior to the events of the series, that becomes an anthem for the rebels. After a few attacks against the Capitol by the Rebels, including the sabotage of the Capitol’s power source (the dam in District 5), and an attack on District 13 by the Capitol that the district was warned of ahead of time by Peeta during a live Capitol broadcast, President Coin finally orders an extraction mission to rescue Peeta, Johanna, and Finnick’s love interest and fellow Hunger Games victor Annie Cresta (Stef Dawson).

While the Capitol is distracted by a propaganda video starring Finnick, a Special Forces team, Gale being one of them, head to the Capitol to break the Tributes out of the Tribute Center. Despite the Capitol’s power returning in the middle of the operation and President Snow, who Katniss communicates with at one point in the hopes of distracting him further, revealing that he knew about the rescue mission, the team somehow manages to return with all of the tributes. But when Katniss tries to see Peeta, he starts attacking her though is knocked out by Katniss’ bodyguard Boggs (Mahershala Ali) before he can kill her. When Katniss comes to after being knocked unconscious by Peeta, she is told that Peeta has been ‘hijacked’ by the Capitol; brainwashed to kill Katniss by altering his memories of her via the venom of genetically altered wasps, ‘Tracker Jackers’. As President Coin announces to the people of District 13 the successful rescue of the Tributes and the planned assault on the Capitol’s primary military facility in District 2, Katniss witnesses Peeta violently struggling about in solitary confinement as doctors try and find a way to reverse Peeta’s brainwashing.

And that’s the story of ‘The Hunger Games’ series… so far. For fans of the franchise, hopefully this will help refresh your memory as to what’s happened so far in these first three films. If you’re not familiar with the franchise, though that’s probably unlikely given how this franchise has become a global phenomenon a la ‘Harry Potter’, this post should help you familiarize yourself with the world and characters of this series just in time for the release of the final installment, ‘Mockingjay Part 2’, this weekend, in which Katniss Everdeen and the citizens of Panem begin their final stand against President Snow and the Capitol. As I stated in the intro to this post, I’m considering making this ‘Story so Far’ thing a recurring segment on Rhode Island Movie Corner so sound off in the comments section below to tell me if you liked this post and want to see more of them. Until then, as they say in the ‘Hunger Games’, ‘May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor’!  

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014) review

When the Young Adult Book to Film Genre needed a new frontrunner to lead the pack after the ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Twilight’ franchises came to a close, ‘The Hunger Games’ stepped in and has been both a commercial and critical success, thanks of course to great writing, great directing, and great acting from all involved. While I do understand the problems that some people have with the first film in regards to the cinematography and editing during the actual Hunger Games, I still stand by that film as being a well-made adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novels. But like many people, I do agree that ‘Catching Fire’ was a superior film, expanding on the whole universe of Panem and moving away from those aforementioned ‘issues’ from the first film. So now ‘Catching Fire’ director Francis Lawrence (no relation to star Jennifer Lawrence) is back to direct the final film in the series, ‘Mockingjay’… except it isn’t the final film… not yet. Instead, Lionsgate decided to go the route that Warner Bros. did with ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ and split the final book of the ‘Hunger Games’ series into two separate films. This has certainly attracted a lot of controversy considering that the length of the book doesn’t really justify the need for two films. However, I do feel that ‘Mockingjay Part 1’, even though it is technically the ‘set-up’ for ‘Part 2’ next year, is just as good as the two films that came before it.

At the end of ‘Catching Fire’, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), winner of the 74^th Hunger Games and participant in the following year’s event AKA the ‘Quarter Quell’, escaped from the Hunger Games arena after she destroyed it and was brought to District 13, the district of Panem that was thought to have been destroyed 75 years ago during the original rebellion amongst its districts against the Capitol. However, at the same time, Katniss’ fellow Hunger Games champion and love interest Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) ended up getting taken by the Capitol and their home, District 12, was destroyed. Now in District 13 under the leadership of President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), Katniss finds herself pressured into being the ‘face’ of the districts’ rebellion: the ‘Mockingjay’. She is at first hesitant to do so but finds new purpose when she learns that Peeta is still alive, albeit now under the control of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and the Capitol. This inspires Katniss to spread her wings and become the Mockingjay as she now finds herself at the frontlines (in both a figurative and somewhat literal sense) along with her allies, including her best friend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), and her mentors Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) and Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) as she looks to save Peeta before he ends up getting killed by the Capitol.

‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1’ is a very different beast compared to its predecessors. This time, there aren’t any ‘Hunger Games’ and instead it’s more about the political side of the rebellion and how each side is trying to use propaganda to sway public opinion. And while this film technically is more focused on that than the action, it still results in a very compelling film. But of course, the big question still remains; was the decision to split this final book into two films a good idea? Well, so far that has attracted quite a mixed reaction from a lot of people but personally I felt that it did actually work from a story perspective. I’ve noted before that the reason behind this was so that the filmmakers could expand on the book whereas Collins was forced to condense a lot of stuff to meet publisher demands and because of this, it does actually feel justified. Never at any time during the course of this film did I feel that it felt ‘padded’ to stretch things out for two movies. This movie does have a proper beginning and end with a clear objective; rescue Peeta from the Capitol. Because of this, I was never bored and the film did on a pretty neat but also very tense cliffhanger to lead into ‘Part 2’, where I’m guessing most of the action from the book will occur.

Once again this film, like its immediate predecessor, benefits from great direction from Francis Lawrence, who handles the transition to a more politically driven storyline (compared to the last two films) quite well and does a great job at showcasing the large scale of this rebellion. And that’s backed up by the great cast, headlined once again by Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. In the last two films, Katniss was a character who was basically dragged into these events, sort of against her own will but now she’s much more proactive this time as we truly see her become the face of the revolution. Josh Hutcherson also stands out here as well as the transformation that Peeta goes through in this movie is truly fascinating. One of the advantages that the films have over the books is that because it isn’t in the same first-person narrative from Katniss’ perspective, this allows for the other characters to stand out more than they did in the books, resulting in members of the cast like Liam Hemsworth and Elizabeth Banks (the latter of whom brings such much-needed levity to this rather bleak setting as Effie) getting more to do and with equally great turns from other members of the cast including Jeffrey Wright as tech wiz Beetee, newcomer Julianne Moore as President Coin, and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as rebel leader Plutarch Heavensbee, the whole cast is superb from top to bottom. But something that I forgot to mention the last time is that not only are the protagonists great but also the villain as well. Donald Sutherland has been great in these movies as President Snow. They REALLY make you hate this guy; cold, evil, and emotionless but yet he still manages to be calm and collected during all of this.

Now I’m not saying that I’m 100% supportive of the decision to split ‘Mockingjay’ into two films and ‘Part 1’ will never escape the fact that it’s basically a ‘set up’ for the finale in ‘Part 2’. But you know what? The same can be said for ‘Deathly Hallows Part 1’, and this is very much the Hunger Games’ version of that movie as both films are very similar in regards to their structure and execution. Yes, there’s not really that much action in this compared to the first two films… but hey, so was ‘Deathly Hallows Part 1’. In other words, this film still manages to be incredibly compelling thanks of course to the great direction from Francis Lawrence, the great writing that gives us great characters, and of course the great cast portraying these characters. I went into this unsure about the whole ‘2-parter’ thing but ultimately I came out pretty satisfied as I felt that the film did end on a solid note with an incredibly suspense cliffhanger. Now of course I say this knowing that this is only ‘Part 1’ of the story. We still got one more film to go in this series but you know that I will be there November 2015 to see this great series officially come to an end with ‘Mockingjay Part 2’ and I’ll also be keen to see if that film can also feel as ‘complete’ as a film like ‘Part 1’ was… as the first half of a two-part story of course.

Rating: 5/5!