Released: November 20th,
2015
Rated: PG-13
Distributor: Lionsgate
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam
Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Sam Claflin, Donald Sutherland
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Written by: Peter Craig, Danny Strong
Personal Bias Alert: loved the books, felt the first two movies were rushed
8.7 of 10
The Hunger Games film series did itself
a great disservice with its first two installments. While they were slick, action-packed
entertainments with a good head on their shoulders, they still were paired down
too much from the books. I grimaced when
I thought what this would do to the finale, which magnifies every unsure moment
and sweeping tide into a cataclysmic revolution entirely out of Katniss’s
control. The brilliance of the book
series is in how neatly every little thread comes together. The film series had dropped too many threads,
ones that seem extraneous early on but were actually tiny building blocks for
the finale. This is why I understand
people’s aversion to the dramatic tonal shift of the two Mockingjay installments, but the straight and narrow gaze it gains
is precisely what elevates it into the upper echelon of popcorn entertainment.
Mockingjay Part 2 finds Katniss
(Jennifer Lawrence) recovering physically from the attack by a mind-warped
Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) but without a moment for mental healing. The revolution led by District 13 is gaining
ground, with the obstacles between themselves and President Snow (Donald
Sutherland) are quickly falling away. As
usual, the tempestuous Katniss would rather be in the fight than dealing with
its aftermath, so she sets off with Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Finnick (Sam
Claflin), and company to enter the final fray:
a storming of the Capital.
Of course, President Coin (Julianne Moore) and
Plutarch (Philip Seymour Hoffman) won’t let her jeopardize their carefully
orchestrated rebellion, so she’s saddled with a protection team and kept behind
the front lines. Katniss’s removal from
center stage is something that could alternately be frustrating or thrilling to
the audience. The Hunger Games very pointedly doesn’t follow the ‘chosen one’
narrative, continuously making it more and more obvious that Katniss is just a
girl with a bow and arrow that happened to be in the right (wrong?) place at
the right time. No, she’s a pawn in a
much larger game, and both parts of Mockingjay
examines just how much she is used by both sides of the fight.
This
along with the series parallel themes about the influence of propaganda takes
the viewer down a dismal path, examining just how revolutions start and are
sustained. War is a part of it, of
course, but there’s much more sinister and damaging things afoot in Mockingjay that are easier to see when
the parts are viewed together. I
attended the Mockingjay double
feature for this review, where I saw Part
1 and Part 2 back-to-back. What’s remarkable is how difficult it is to
remember where one film started and the other ended. They really are a cohesive piece, each part
lesser on its own, but a grand, ambitious slice of filmmaking when taken
together.
Director
Francis Lawrence keeps the film clipping along, adhering to the production
company’s desire for a YA smash. The
action is crisp, clean, and occasionally brutal. A little girl’s death in the woods is no
longer a cause for mourning. The
audience and the characters have moved far beyond that, but there’s still obvious
concessions made to keep the PG-13 rating.
Meaningful deaths are rarely seen, and while this takes the sting out of
some moments, there’s more obvious ways that its target audience is
acknowledged. The film’s points, at
times, are stated a bit too simply, and its plot is still hampered by a love
triangle that seems inconsequential even to those onscreen. And yet even this has a powerful payoff, a
small moment where one path is irrevocably shut down thanks to the choices made
during war.
It
would’ve been possible to tell Mockingjay
in one film if the series had set itself up better for the finale, but
Lionsgate wanted a blockbuster franchise, so the crazy dresses and explosions
were played up instead of the agonizing decisions faced by Katniss and everyone
else caught up in this world. The first
two installments moved at a break-neck pace, making a slowdown for Mockingjay necessary. Still, there’s barely a wasted moment in Mockingjay, as what may seem like
repetitive weariness is designed to wear you down. Yes, this is a series intended for young
adults, and yes, it’s supposed to be a thrilling blockbuster. Mockingjay
just wants you to be thrilled by its ideas as well as its explosions, and
it does a riveting job at entertaining you with both.
Other
Notes:
Ø Throughout
the two Mockingjay films, there’s
several scenes where nameless foot soldiers carry out attacks against the Capital.
Waves of them are cut down so that a
select few can complete the mission.
That’s a stark visual motif for the wanton way lives are used in times
of war.
Ø Few
things are better than a well-used Michelle Forbes.
Ø Let’s
all take a moment and say a final goodbye to Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
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