“It’s war, it isn’t always personal” – Gale Hawthorne
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Written by: Suzanne Collins, Peter Craig, Danny Strong
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland
Swift shot: When I first heard about The Hunger Games I was intrigued, and after I saw the first film (way back in 2012), I was hooked. I bought the complete series and read them all. Though I knew how everything was going to resolve, according to the books, I wasn’t sure if the film-makers would strictly adhere to the novels, especially the final chapters which make up Mockingjay – Part 2. You’ll have to see the film to know, because I won’t reveal anything here. As a stand-alone film, Part 2 delivers intense action, but it manages to drag a tad towards the end. Still, this is the closure you’ve been waiting for since the first tributes were sent to the arena.
Leaving off immediately where Mockingjay Part 1 ended, Katniss (Lawrence) is recovering from being attacked by the blond baker boy, Peeta (Hutcherson). President Snow (Sutherland) subjected the poor kid to serious torture and mind-altering methods that make it impossible for him to be trusted. He’s a lethal weapon, and he’s been sent to kill one person, Katniss.
The rebels of District 13 do everything they can to get Peeta cured of his horrible brainwashing, but their efforts are to no avail. He even lashes out at Primrose (Willow Shields), Katniss’ younger sister who has now become an official member of the District 13 medical staff for the war effort. She is the whole reason this adventure began, if you recall. She was chosen as a tribute from District 12 in the 74th Hunger Games, and Katniss volunteered to keep her safe.
Meanwhile, now that Peeta is, essentially out of the picture, Gale (Hemsworth) and Katniss have some kind of passionless relationship between them, but it’s clear to Gale, he is a consolation prize. He’ll never get Katniss to look at him the way she does Peeta. In one of the lines I remember straight out of the book, he tells her that kissing her is like kissing a drunk person, it doesn’t count. Ouch! In Katniss’ defense though, we can’t choose who we love. But, we can avenge them. And that is exactly what Katniss lobbies District 13’s President Coin (Julianne Moore) to do. Katniss wants to assassinate President Snow in the Capitol.
Being the pain in the ass that she is, Katniss decides to go out on her own to kill Snow, regardless of her orders keeping her from doing just that! With a little friendly persuasion by Joahanna Mason (Jena Malone) who basically explains to her that she regrets all the sacrifices she made to make Katniss the Mockingjay. Clearly, she would have been the better choice, and Katniss doesn’t disagree. So, Johanna stays behind while Katniss heads to the front lines – to war – to kill.
President Coin is pissed off that Katniss can’t follow orders, but she and Plutarch Heavensbee (The Late, Philip Seymour Hoffman) determine to let this action appear to be of their design. They also set Katniss up in unit 451, a special unit that is designed to appear to be doing a lot of fighting, while actually staying behind the fiercest action. Quickly, Katniss discovers things in 451 aren’t necessarily what she expects. But, she does get to hang with Gale, who knows all too well what she is there to do, kill Snow. He’s fine with that decision and agrees to help.
Of course, nothing works out as Katniss planned, this is Katniss after all, the most lucky, unlucky girl in all the districts.
Unit 451 is comprised of some fan favorites and some new faces, and they are commanded by Boggs (Mahershala Ali), a wise combat commander who knows Katniss is in danger on all fronts. Once the unit’s reinforcements arrive . . . the plot thickens. This new addition to the unit is not trustworthy, and in fact he’s a weapon whose allegiance is in doubt throughout their mission.
The gambit is put in motion, and Katniss seeks her prey, Snow. Of course Snow is not going down without a fight. He’s had his game makers create pods, which are essentially the same things that are used in the arena, but he has them strewn all over The Capitol, it’s a block by block struggle to get to the palace, where they know Snow is holding up as he watches Panem mobilized to end him.
That’s about all I need to say about the story. The action is quite intense at times, with explosions, fire, mutts and mind games around just about every corner. Where the film suffers a bit is towards the end, immediately following a huge climactic battle that takes place which reminds us that war is wrought with sacrifices, and not all the good people survive. But, there is hope for a better future, and that is enough to remind people why freedom is always the right path.
After the film was over, I felt a raw numbness, but it was nothing like I experienced after reading the final words of Collins’ novel. I just didn’t get as emotionally invested, this time. But there were was one scene that was on par with Ben Hur, towards the end. You will know it when you see it. It is the culmination of the entire series.
I am sure many people would have been satisfied had the film ended there. Too many questions remained though, to end it on such a powerful scene with unanswered questions might have been cool, but be honest with yourself, don’t you hate when story-tellers don’t finish telling the damn story? You won’t have to worry about that with Mockingjay Part 2 – all is answered. Granted, you might not like all the answers.
