Skip to main content

Review: "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2"

Image via Collider.com

Last year, when Mockingjay Part 1 came out and a lot of people criticized it, I defended it. It was a very good movie despite its flaws. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Part 2. This has to be one of the least satisfying endings to a series that I have seen in a very long time, which is a shame considering how much I enjoyed the first three films. Below, I will explain everything that I liked and disliked about this movie.

**WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD**

There is a lot wrong with this movie, however, I will begin by pointing out a few positives. First of all, the performances were great as always. Regardless of what one may think about the movie as a whole, it is hard to deny that these actors all have done a fantastic job of really transforming themselves into their respective roles. And second, there is an incredibly well-done action sequence between Katniss & company and the mutts that takes place in the sewers which ends up being the best five minutes of the movie.

One of the main issues I had with this movie was how lazily the story was told throughout the entirety of the film. At the start of the film, the rebellion is making a huge deal out of taking over District 2 and right when it seems like we are about to jump into this huge action scene, we cut to a shot of Katniss and Gale as they watch in the distance. A couple of explosions later and District 2 is theirs. But as if that wasn't enough, the same thing happens with the final battle against the Capitol. The rebellion finally reaches the gates of the Capitol and this huge battle that we have been waiting years for is about to start, but then Katniss is knocked out by an explosion and when she wakes up we find out that the battle is over. It is so incredibly anti-climactic that it is hard to not walk away from this movie with a bad taste in your mouth.

Mockingjay, Part 2 was also just very dull and redundant. It constantly felt like they were trying to make it seem as if there was a lot happening when there really wasn't and the serious lack of action didn't help their case. The movie was painfully predictable to the point where there was zero emotional reaction to any of the "emotional"parts. Francis Lawrence, who directed this movie, just didn't do a good job when it came to masking the deaths of any of the characters and, therefore, you are never surprised when someone like Prim dies.

The ending also feels totally unsatisfying and very dragged out. Whenever you think the movie is over, another scene pops up. This happens about 3 or 4 times and it was very annoying. Lastly, I do think that a lot of the problems that Mockingjay, Part 2 ran into stem from the fact that this movie was split into two. I strongly believe that Mockingjay could have been beautifully told in 1 movie and we would have been left without a lot of the boring fluff that filled the majority of Part 2. Overall, this was probably one of the worst and probably the most disappointing movie of the year for me. I give it a 5/10, and that might be more than it deserves. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Film Review: "Ready Player One"

There aren’t very many directors who have had quite the career that Steven Spielberg has. The man who directed the very first blockbuster in  Jaws , is the same man who has put together some of our most beloved films such as the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , Jurassic Park , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , and the Indiana Jones series. It’s the same man that, aside from giving us these wonderfully imaginative films, has also given us hard-hitting dramas such as Schindler’s List , Lincoln and Bridge of Spies . His career has spanned 50 years, and the 71-year-old director shows no signs of slowing down. With his latest film, Ready Player One , Spielberg once again delivers an awe-inspiring film that captures the wonders of the imagination. It stars Tye Sheridan as Wade Watts/Parzival, Olivia Cooke as Samantha Cook/Art3mis, Ben Mendelsohn as the villainous Sorrento and Mark Rylance as OASIS creator James Halliday. The film takes place in 2045 Columbus, Ohio. In this futuristi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Classic Movie Monday (Christmas Edition): Home Alone

For most kids growing up in the 90s, Home Alone was THE Christmas movie to watch. This is the story of Kevin, an 8-year old kid who gets forgotten at home when the entire family leaves to Paris for the holidays. As a result, he has to fend for himself while also protecting his home from intruders. Macaulay Culkin as Kevin was a representation of what most kids wanted to be, which was totally independent and the smartest guy in the room.              There are certain films that you can watch and no matter how much time has passed, it still feels like a story you could tell today in the exact same way as it was told back then. This is not one of those films. Home Alone very clearly a product of its time. It’s like digging up a time capsule from the 90s and seeing what the world, or just movies in general, were like. The entire premise and the way it all unfolds would probably never work in today’s world. I mean it barely work...
Post a Comment
Read more

Classic Movie Monday: "Rear Window" vs "Disturbia"

There are certain classics that, in theory, should be much harder to re-imagine than others. Often times, it’s very difficult to modernize certain aspects of a story, whether it be the topic or story plot. By all accounts, Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery thriller Rear Window should have been difficult to adapt in 2007. Rear Window ’s plot makes the film date itself more than other Hitchcock films. At the center of the 1954 film, which stars James Stewart, is L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries, a photographer whose broken-leg forces him to be wheelchair-bound and unable to leave his house. Having nothing else to do, Jeff passes the time by spying on the people from the apartment complex across from his. When he sees what he believes to be a murder at the hands of a man named Thorwald, Jeff takes it upon himself to solve the crime. Rear Window remains one of Hitchcock’s most decorated films, so it is no surprise that eventually someone would try and remake it. The question, however, is how? The idea...
Post a Comment
Read more