The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

"There are much worse games to play."

The war in Panem is escalating.  The rebels in District 13, led by President Alma Coin (Moore), celebrate their victories over the Capitol, while planning their next move.  Most of the Districts have aligned with them, but the Capitol still has the advantage.  Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) continues to be the face of the resistance, but wants to be involved in the actual fighting.  Her friends who were rescued from the Capitol are still suffering the effects of the torture, especially Peeta (Hutcherson), who doesn't know what is real.

Katniss is put on a special team to document the battle, from a safe distance.  The team is led by Boggs (Ali) and includes the other victors, Peeta and Finnick (Claflin), Gale (Hemsworth), and Cressida (Dormer) and her team.  Meanwhile, President Snow (Sutherland) has put the gamemakers in charge of booby-trapping the city.  Can Katniss and the rebels survive the perils of the city and stop Snow?


Following the trend of recent YA film adaptations, producers decided to split Suzanne Collins final installment in the Hunger Games series, "Mockingjay" into 2 films: Mockingjay Part 1 and Mockingjay Part 2.  The first two films in the series (The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) were incredibly popular and expectations for the final films were high.  Both parts of Mockingjay are directed by Francis Lawrence (who also directed Catching Fire) and both screenplays were written by Danny Strong and Peter Craig.

After the success of Part 1, my expectations were high for this film.  As a whole, I think it works as a nice ending to the series.  It stays faithful to the novel and, like the other films, it fleshes out some areas that the book left to your imagination (such as showing Snow's response to Katniss' actions).  But some areas were lacking... such as the relationship between Johanna and Katniss.  In the books, they grew closer in the last book and had an interesting friendship, but the film glosses over that in favor of giving all the other characters closure.  But I can't fault that decision.

The final battle is intense and devastating, with beloved characters in peril and even dying.  It is brutal, one character even jokingly calls it the "76th Hunger Games".  The score, by James Newton Howard, only heightens the intensity and emotions in these scenes.  

If you loved the films, you need to see how it all ends.  If you love the books, you should see it (since it ends the same way the book ends).  It is a satisfying ending to a addictive series.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) 137 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and for some thematic material
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen
Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark
Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne
Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy
Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket
Julianne Moore as President Alma Coin
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee
 Donald Sutherland as President Coriolanus Snow
Sam Clafilin as Finnick Odair
Jena Malone as Johanna Mason
Jeffrey Wright as Beetee Latier
Natalie Dormer as Cressida
Willow Shields as Primrose Everdeen
Mahershala Ali as Boggs
Patina Miller as Commander Paylor