By TANIA PHILLIPS
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
(M)
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth
THREE books and four movies down the track, the Hunger Games franchise finally comes to an end with the originally titled Mockingjay Part 2.
But don’t let the deceptively simple title fool you – this is a well-acted, well-written and well-realised end to a franchise that has captured the imagination of a generation.
After being symbolised as the “Mockingjay”, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is now in the middle of an all-out revolution against the autocratic Capitol.
She’s been fighting for her own life for a couple of years now but now she’s fighting for something more – she’s fighting for the freedom of the Districts of Panem but she’s starting to realise that there are bad guys on both sides (is it just me or does Julianne Moore’s hair get whiter as we go through the series – is there any difference between President Snow (the ever brilliant Donald Sutherland) and Coin)?
But with so many people losing their lives (and the death count at the end of the movie rivals Shakespeare at his bloodiest) this is personal now.
Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) teams up with her closest friends including Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and Finnick (Sam Clafin) for the ultimate mission. Together, they leave District 13 to liberate the citizens of war-torn Panem and assassinate President Snow, who’s obsessed with destroying Katniss.
This time while there aren’t any formal Hunger Games, getting through the booby-trapped capital (Finnick even makes a quip welcoming them to the 76th Hunger Games) is the focus of the action sequences – with the Hunger Games makers still at work. While this all provides lots of action and suspense it feels a little contrived (particularly the addition of the still addled and dangerous Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and overblown. However the actors help it rise above becoming too cliched and the movie comes home strongly, not going soft on the emotional side of things and on the impact of both the Hunger Games and the war on people. It’s the quiet moments rather than the special effects that have the greatest impact.
The humanity of this series has always been its strength – in a movie world that often seems populated by weak-willed simpering females (Twilight, Shades of Grey) Katniss still stands strong as a positive role-model for a generation of young women (and proof positive that a woman can head up an action film).
– Tania Phillips
