The finale of the last Hunger Games movie brings an end to not only to the series but to the young adult book-to-movie phenomenon. And unfortunately the finale goes with a whimper instead of a bang. First off, let me say that I have never read any of the books so do not expect me to go on that kind of nit picking rampage in this blog. Now then on with the review.
The movie starts off after Mockingjay Part 1 so if you haven't seen that, I would recommend that you do because the film gives you no backstory about what happened in that movie. It just jumps right in to the second part. This is one thing that I have been noticing a lot with YA (young adult) films that split the finale into 2 parts. If you entered the second movie without having seen the first part of the last movie, you are on your own for plot details. I never found this idea to make sense for a viewer and see it only as an opportunity for movie studios to bank off a money making franchise.
As for the movie itself, its okay, I know how much this movie means to both fans of the movies and the books so I will try to limit myself on spoilers. The basic non spoiler synopsis of the movie is that after Mockingjay Part 1, Katniss Everdeen is on a mission to kill President Snow, leader of Panem. Snow makes the mission difficult for Katniss and her crew by rigging the way to Snow's mansion with various traps created by makers of Hunger Games traps and he has peacemaker troops tracking the group down to kill them. From there characters die and drama happens.
I'm going to be honest here, the movie is both disappointing in story and as a finale. To understand this I looked back on other films that came out this year. Mad Max, Avengers, Ant-Man, all of those brought something fun and unique to the table. Mockingjay Part 2 is a downer movie, there is very little humor and its unique YA feel has been sucked out to make it feel like most YA stories. It's just sad to see a promising franchise that proved YA films don't have to fall into a formula and suck as well as give us a strong female character we can support. My final consensus is that if you feel like you have to see the final installment of The Hunger Games franchise, go ahead and see it. It's not a bad film. There are some clever twists, the cast does a good job, and the story is ok. But as a finale to a popular series I just can't help but to feel let down. If you have your doubts about the movie I would say wait until it's available for rental.
Grade: C-
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