The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

It can be seen that the film was very expensive and narrative-based, the music is dynamically thundering, the actors are trying, the directing is skilled, etc. However, none of this can obscure the fact that from the point of view of the story, there is simply almost nothing interesting going on in the film, whilst what could have been interesting is pointlessly truncated to a minimum. After the previous, worn-out work, I was looking forward to the announced civil war and the grand finale, but I did not get to see anything like that, and instead I was served another load of the same boredom. Most of the film has a rather sluggish pace and suffers from shallow dialogues that more or less repeat the same thing that has been said before. There are only two more decent action scenes in 135 minutes, and we get to see only a short fraction of the most important of them - the attack of the insurgents on the Capitol. (11/21/2015)

Even as I was awestruck watching how Danny Strong and Peter Craig adapted the dragging first half of my least favorite book into the best of the films, I knew that their final arrow, like Katniss, would hit the target perfectly. Fortunately, I was not mistaken, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 became my favorite Hunger Games adaptation in the most obvious way. It is mainly because of the brilliant gradation, which transitions from depressing dialogue and a gloomy atmosphere to intense battles, painful losses – and even more depressing dialogue. Two climax scenes (the sewer and the march to the palace) had me on the edge of my seat so much that I found myself holding my breath at times, despite knowing all the twists. And that's exactly what Mockingjay is about. It's about an ending that fulfills the most tragically imaginable irony, about heroes who are irreversibly marked and worth rooting for until the very last second. But first and foremost, Hunger Games is the story of a Girl on Fire, whose destiny and determination can be a metaphor, a prototype, a warning, and everything else imaginable. Even if only to ensure that none of us ever have to stand in her place. (11/22/2015)

The Hunger Games has become another victim of the recently increasingly popular production strategy of splitting the final part into two episodes, hurting the final form of each of the films. Separately, the films look very disjointed, which is understandable. The last part of the book series was definitely not so dense to warrant two full feature films, and this is evident in the too many dead spots and unnecessarily drawn-out scenes (especially at the end). The second part in film form is basically just a murderous walk between the traps in the Capitol and the constant tension between Katniss, Peeta and Gale, but it quickly gets tiresome and by the end it gets quite boring. All in all, a decent and very average farewell to the Hunger Games series, which should have been better ended with one longer film, but what can I say, money talks. (02/01/2016)

It had to end with the cat. I understand that the filmmakers had to stay true to the book’s ending, but the impression that the film leaves is in conflict with more than just the transformation that Katniss underwent in the two preceding instalments (the mention of nightmares as an indication of PTSD is rather unconvincing in light of the kitschy stylisation of the scene). At the same time, it deadens the whole trilogy’s “emancipatory” potential by passing off the dumbest gender stereotype as the ideal state. Eastwood similarly cut the recent American Sniper off at the knees in its final minutes. Otherwise, Mockingjay – Part 2 is a generally satisfying effort to make a YA blockbuster that rejects certain genre conventions (the unspectacular beginning, the most epic action taking place long before the atypically intimate ending, the blurred line between good and evil) and even has something to say to adults (war propaganda, the demise of the old world, the overlaying of real memories with media representations). Like Mockingjay – Part 1, the film begins with an unusually dark and bombastic scene that sets the course of the narrative. Katniss must regain (literally and figuratively) the voice that she lost in the previous instalment. Through most of the film, however, her control over the situation is not as great as she imagines it to be or as is indicated by her heroic framing (at the centre in order to dominate the whole shot while towering over the other characters) and the frequent shots of her face filling the entire screen. Katniss’s journey of personal revenge is for the most part a propaganda spectacle directed from above for the masses, essentially another edition of the Hunger Games, with the ruins of the Capitol serving as the new arena. The illusion of freedom of choice and the fight for a just cause isn’t destroyed as thoroughly as the previous instalment promised, but the film is still a likably unique incentive to think about the mass production of pop-culture rebels who fail to grasp the idea that they are not fighting against the system, but within it. 75% (11/27/2015)

The final part of the book trilogy and the film tetralogy wasn’t all that different from the previous installment, so I got a huge dose of grandiose speechifying, and I wasn’t spared the inevitable clichés, melodrama, and the cat of course. What surprised me was the ending, though. I was expecting a postapocalyptic-fairytale finale, but the conclusion to the story was downright biblical. A man and a woman..... A pair of teenagers lie down in bed, tell each other they love each other, and wake up the next day as parents of two children, one of whom is obviously of Chinese descent. Mary with her immaculate conception can't match that. But back to the film. Once again, the filmmakers used tried and tested techniques to create a pompous CGI spectacle and a story whose logic is so flimsy that entire city blocks slip through its cracks. At the same time, they were unable to build up an atmosphere that would have any kind of effect on me, which is why I found the whole thing oddly lifeless to the point of boring. I didn't care what happened to any of the characters, and when some of the characters met their tragic fate, I didn't really feel anything. The film simply felt empty and unimpressive. I was just two hours of nothing. And to think how hard Donald Sutherland was trying... / Lesson learned: Are you fighting for great ideals? Prepare to be disappointed. (09/11/2022)