The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

The last installment of the series is slightly better than the previous journey into the world of Panem simply because it is less talkative and manages to show action and throw in some attractions in the form of mutant attacks or clever traps for the rebel team throughout its long duration. Unfortunately, it is also the most convincing evidence of how poorly the world is designed and how (un)functional it actually is. Nothing really makes sense in the film. In the third installment, the ruling regime is in control and capable of delivering devastating blows to the rebels, so we quickly reach the "battle for Berlin" phase, the final agony, where regime supporters collapse one after another, without it being clear how this miraculous turnaround happened. Pro-regime forces lose energy and the remaining resources on nonsensically over-engineered traps intended for television cameras at a time when it no longer makes even the slightest sense. With a switched-off brain and a fondness for Jennifer Lawrence, however, Mockingjay can be tolerated. Overall impression: 40%. (19.05.2022)

Unfortunately, the Hunger Games series, with the exception of the second installment, is just a mediocre teen saga for me. For the first hour almost nothing happens, but as soon as the first traps arrive on the scene we are thrust into an aggressive whirlpool that paces solidly, but after forty minutes it runs out of breath again and for the last twenty minutes I was eagerly waiting for the end credits, wiggling, squirming, falling off my seat and choking on popcorn. The film has an overly intellectual look to it, one that doesn't fit at all, there are horribly long and slow shots, dreamy and emotional looks from everyone involved, it really made me sick. At least the very good scene with the mutants is worth praising, it lasts about ten minutes, has an excellent jump scare and dares to compete with most horror films in terms of atmosphere. The "finale" is rather quieter, but with a fine drum score. For a final part, there is little action and drama and too much uninteresting intellectual bullshit. I don't recommend 3D. 60%. (19.11.2015)

I got exactly what I’d wanted to get from the last installment of Hunger Games. And you can add to it the fact that it’s most likely the roughest episode. I felt almost sorry that the entire story is meant for teenagers, so I wouldn’t get to see torn-up bodies or guts spilled all over the battlefield. This installment was literally asking for it. But I must admit that it’s pretty much made up for by the ending. Nevertheless, same as with all the previous installments, this one also has a problem with length, meaning mainly the first twenty minutes. During those I got to experience once again how easily twenty minutes can turn into a really long time. These twenty minutes loaded with facts are followed by the last Hunger Game and with it a succession of thrilling scenes that I really enjoyed. So, in conclusion, I’d like to add that within these young adult stories, Hunger Games is the best. Great soundtrack, amazing actors and if some of the parts weren’t so pointlessly long, I would have no problem giving it a five-star review. (26.11.2015)

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. (22.11.2015)

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% (27.11.2015)