It was only three short years ago that the world met Katniss Everdeen and fell in love with Jennifer Lawrence as its leading lady in the first Hunger Games film. Based off the wildly popular book series of the same name written by Suzanne Collins; It tells the story of a unique outlook of a post apocalyptic world that is divided by the lavish and exuberant lifestyles of the citizens of the Capitol, and the 12 districts nearby which act as a polyglot of the slavish masses who are abused, mistreated and poor, but are the cogs that keep the country of ‘Panem’ moving.
So inevitably there would be an uprising, especially when the tyrannical President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is a sociopathic, twisted leader who puts the districts against each other in what he calls the ‘Hunger Games.’ where Tributes, aka unwilling volunteers, are selected to fight to the death in a survival of the fittest competition in an arena specifically built to inflict harm through tricks and traps.
So re-enter Katniss Everdeen; in the first film she takes the place of her sister Prim when she is selected to compete, and this sets in motion events that ultimately lead to her becoming to be the face of the rebellion and lead the charge straight to the ‘Capitol’ in a war for freedom and prosperity.
That’s where this new film begins, the last in the 4 movie series. And I remember writing about the penultimate ‘Mockingjay Part 1’over a year ago; I was let down by it, but assured myself it was the necessary build for a truly epic and satisfying finale – unfortunately I was wrong.
It falls way flat, and I’m not sure who to blame… is it the source material? The Director? The Screenwriter? It feels like the Mockingjay lost its mojo. By now we are expected to believe Katniss is invincible, she’s been electrocuted, poisoned, exploded, shot, knocked out and more, I can’t remember, and yet suddenly now everyone around her that we’ve grown to love becomes expendable., However, but the way it’s presented leaves us not caring that a slew of favourites do perish in this war.
Her character was never likeable, and it’s less about her ability as a fighter for which she is incredible, but more about her social skills that beg the question, why would anyone could consider her a leader? She constantly pursues her own selfish endeavours and strings along two different guys at the same time, whilst carelessly disregarding orders from superiors – it was cute the first film, endearing in the second, tolerable in the third, but now it’s painful.
You never truly feel what’s at stake in this movie, the pacing of the scenes is off with the shoehorned characters added purely to be killed off, and the sheer amount of quiet, pensive scenes with characters talking so quietly I could hear the guy in front of me chewing his popcorn louder than the actual movie dialogue. I could continue to rant, but I divulge.
Disappointed is an understatement, and not the finale this series deserved. It’s second only to Twilight in terms of underwhelming endings, and nobody wants to be put in the same pool as that series – ever.
