The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Director: Francis Lawrence
Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth
Duration: 137 mins
Class: PG12
KRS Film Releasing Ltd
Just over three and a half years ago, The Hunger Games, the first film based on the best-selling, young adult trilogy by Suzanne Collins, was released, launching what was to become a grim and gripping series of films which would also send its star Jennifer Lawrence into the stratosphere.
The fascinating dystopian story of protagonist Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) and her fight against the tyrannical oppression of the corrupt President Snow (Donald Sutherland) has thrilled and moved audiences in equal measure and the franchise comes to a conclusion in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.
Fully confident in their fandom, the filmmakers waste no time on exposition, and Part 2 kicks off right where we left things, with Katniss having survived an assault by Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), clearly under Snow’s indoctrination when he was rescued from his clutches.
Yet, Katniss barely has time to recover from her injuries. Panem is now completely at war and, under instructions, from rebellion leader President Coin (Julianne Moore), the so-called Mockingjay leads a team of rebels from their underground bunkers of District 13 headlong into danger for a confrontation with her nemesis.
The final instalment of the franchise maintains its legacy of tight narrative, electrifying action and deeply-felt emotion .
But this has always been so much more than a mere dystopian action-adventure film. The Hunger Games trilogy was released as a young adult book, but its target audience is much wider. The filmmakers treat said audience with respect, exploring very adult themes with gravity and depth.
The whole series can be regarded as a treatise on the absolute corruption politics can bring about, even to those who have the best of intentions; that the horrors of war are absolute and that there is no mercy from those bringing about death and wreaking destruction.
Standing head and shoulders above its competition
All the while, director Francis Lawrence – working off a solid script by Peter Craig and Danny Strong – keeps proceedings moving at a relentless pace, with the moments of political machination a welcome break from many battle sequences.
The decision to split the final book in Collins’ trilogy into two films pays off – in my review for Part 1 I wrote that it felt “like a deep breath being taken before an onslaught begins”. And Part 2 delivers that onslaught. Our heroes face some deadly and ingenious traps as they approach the Capitol, reminiscent of some of the trials that formed part of the original Games. In one, particularly nerve-wracking, extended scene, our heroes come under attack in a sewer.
There’s also an onslaught on our emotions, as Katniss pays a high price for the freedom from the tyranny she has been fighting for all this time, in terms of loss of loved ones and betrayal from those she is supposed to trust implicitly.
Despite its overall bleakness, the film ends on a deserved, hopeful note for its protagonist. Katniss is an exemplary hero and she maintains her strict moral compass throughout, even in times of utmost danger and distress. She goes as far as to overrule Coin on decisions which may kill innocent civilians and she is always at the ready to sacrifice herself for the cause. She has earned her moment of peace.
Lawrence leads a considerable ensemble, some of whom barely register (like Sam Claflin’s Finnick Odair or Jena Malone’s Johanna Mason) – the story too complex to accommodate them all. Josh Hutcherson earns much sympathy as the confused, and possibly dangerous, Peeta.
The third point of the franchise’s love triangle, Liam Hemsworth’s Gale, remains Katniss’s faithful protector and shadow. Sutherland’s tyrannical cold and corrupt Snow keeps calm in the face of possible death, while Julianne Moore’s charismatic President Coin continues to keep her cards very close to her chest, until the final moments.
And so, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 proves to be a highly rewarding ending to what is in essence the most elite film franchise of the 21st century, standing head and shoulders above its competition.