I won’t waste much of your time (or mine). You know whether you will go see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 or not. I seriously doubt there’s anyone who is waiting for the reviews of this final installment of the Hunger Games movie franchise to decide whether to go see it or not.
So, without further adieu, to those of you, like me, who promised to see this franchise through to the bitter end, because we fell in love with the first Hunger Games movie and we adore Jennifer Lawrence and the powerful role of Katniss that she plays with natural grace and raw emotion, I say this: I’m glad it’s over. I love this franchise and I loved the books, but it needed to be over now. The first two movies were great but they were great because they were about the actual games. Once the movies left the arena and became about this weird war with President Snow (played by the great Donald Sutherland), the movies became just another dystopian sci-fi disaster movie disappointment.
Mockingjay – Part 2 promised the payoff that Part 1 spent 2 hours prepping us for and, sadly, it was a serious letdown. Save for one cool action sequence underground, which was effective more for the way it was shot than for the story, this movie bordered on dull, especially for being the final installment in a film franchise that excelled so often in tension and thrills.
One other note: seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman on screen for the last time was heartbreaking.
Finally: I saw this movie on opening night with a theatre full of teenage girls and I never fully realized (until now) that there is apparently a whole Gale vs Peeta thing going on, and every girl has a favorite who she is rooting for Katniss to end up with, ala Twilight. So, every time there was a scene with Katniss and one of these guys, every girl in the theatre, who was either Team Gale or Team Peeta, went gaga. If I had known about this earlier, I would have wished for the franchise to end much sooner. Or would have petitioned for someone to die. Most likely me on opening night.
I’ll miss you, Katniss. You had a great run. Fight the power.