“You live long enough to die a hero or become the villain.”
Such was the advice provided to us in The Dark Knight and it rings true in this final film in the Hunger Games series in which Katniss faces not only President Snow, but an enemy in her own camp as well.
Bookshelf Q. Battler here with a review of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.
SPOILER WARNING: Reading below will lead to the spoilers being ever in your favor.
The critics are already foaming at the mouths because this movie didn’t beat last year’s installment, Mockingjay Part 1.
That’s a dumb assessment because it still raked in a hundred million. Did your movie bring in a hundred million in its first weekend? What? You don’t even have a movie? Oh. Ok then. Shut your cake hole.
Our finale begins with some very war weary rebels, exhausted by battle and willing to make morally questionable choices just to win. Some believe its ok to kill civilian loyalists to the Capitol as long as it gets the job of ousting Snow done.
How far should revenge be taken? It’s a question asked throughout the movie and applicable to the real world. One side does X, the other responds with Y…the reciprocity keeps going until one side is big enough to, in the words of Elsa, “let it go, let it go.”
The rebels reach the Capitol and Katniss and friends form a “star squad” meant to wow the people with footage of their daring do, which is supposed to be captured as they hang back from the fighting.
But Snow has other plans. He’s rigged the Capitol with traps and is recording everything, broadcasting the biggest episode of “The Hunger Games” ever as the war turns into one giant game.
Oh and Peeta is still brainwashed. So Katniss has to deal with that too.
The film turns on Katniss facing a troublesome dilemma, namely that the rebels’ president, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) is looking like she’ll make President Snow look like a boy scout when she takes over.
Thus, Katniss has to make a choice but I’ll let you check it out to see how that unfolds.
One complication the movie faced was the untimely death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who played Plutarch. He was in it briefly and there are non-talking clips of him throughout. A speech he was supposed to give to Katniss at the end is replaced by Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch reading a note from Plutarch at the end.
It worked out. As a viewer, you understand given the loss of Hoffman and its done in a way that it makes sense as to why Haymitch is reading a letter rather than Plutarch talking to Katniss himself.
IMO, the Peeta vs. Gale question is wrapped up too neatly. Katniss has suffered that immortal youthful angsty question of “I love them both and they’re so nice what do I do?”
One of them turns out to be nicer than the other but I’ll let you watch and find out who. Kudos to Hollywood for a rare display of open mindedness by at least allowing a short nerdy guy to even be in the running.
Overall, lots of great action, suspense, etc. It was an excellent series that introduced us to the lovely and talented J Law.
As a viewer, when you invest time in a series, you want it to pay off in the end and this one does.
STATUS: Shelf worthy.
Bookshelf Battle 