The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

What began as a funny 'Battle Royal' for teens comes to a conclusion as one of the best blockbusters in recent memory. It's almost unbelievable how the tone progressively changed from the colorful brutality of the first film to the grayscale palate of a very real world portrayed in Mockingjay - Part 2.

The conclusion to 'The Hunger Games' saga is slow, dark and heavy. Starts gloomy and goes downhill from there. It feels anti-climatic and manages to achieve levels of tension only grasped by the previous films. All at the same time.

The fascinating thing about the film is how unexpected and unforgiven it is. The struggles feel real as do the consequences, and hopelessness permeates all of it.

The film has its shortcomings. It starts slows, drags a little on some scenes and contains some lazy writing, but other than that it's almost perfectly executed. Jennifer Lawrence is flawless as Katniss and majestically leads the devastating journey towards its conclusion.

Part 2 is bold and devastating. It may not be the conclusion some fans wanted, it sure wasn't what they're expected, but it's a way better conclusion than one could hope for.

A thank you note to Francis Lawrence for the eerie sewer tunnel scene, which plays as the love child of "Alien" and "The Descent" - very unusual in tone and something no one is expecting to watch in a blockbuster​ of this size.

OK,it's not that part 1 was good,you actually knew it would suck,but the 2nd really grinds my gears.

You have in your hands a civil war,the final battle into the heart of the capital,and you spent 2 hours of your life watching your main character taking a walk in a war zone.

And with all that time strolling,you have no character development,for none of them,just a few moments that the movie is like "Ok,from now on,that's how things are".

I watched this for closure,i wish i hadn't.

I didn't expected it to be a great movie,just a good action one,and it failed.Miserably. For goodness sake,London has fallen had more character development than a book based quadralogy,LOTR had less walking..good riddance to the series.

The franchise started with such promise but seemed to lessen with each film. In this one, the journey towards President Snow was laboured and repetitive. Character development was paint by numbers to non existent. Films 3 and 4 might have been more impactful if retained in one film. But we get the ending... that's something.

This film managed something quite unusual for me: it moved me to tears. While some scenes might feel a bit slow at first, it's all worth it to create the steady build up to the conclusion. Jennifer Lawrence is flawless as Katniss, as are all the other actors. The tone throughout the film can be bleak and unsettling, but it also reflects what some on our planet have to endure, something many of us find hard to imagine. This film is unforgiving, but you won't regret a single moment of it.

A commando unit is sent into the Capitol, now under siege, partially evacuated, overrun by refugees and entirely empty of glory and every bit splendor having faded to shades of grey. Their mission is to put an end to the tyranny. To assassinate President Snow(Sutherland, deliciously evil).

There are entirely too many characters, and darlings that have been left alive, in the least critically trimmed of the four films - this feels strangely disconnected from the others. The production values, talent and scope on display fail to distract from that. As a final chapter, it's fair. Almost every single farewell feels flat and rushed. Essentially, no one has anything to do, not to mention that the new ones, thankfully largely undeveloped anyway, are utterly superfluous. Everyone in the love triangle do find themselves in extreme emotional situations, and certainly the still unstable and potentially homicidal Peeta makes for an immensely interesting element. But it is only with these three, and these two parts could and should have remained one three-hour picture.

The themes are explored rather well, and this fits in an impressive amount of solidly done fiercely political, anti-war messages that are surprisingly relevant, considering it's all there in the book, which came out in 2010. It is clear that this wants to motivate for real-life campaigning to affect foreign policy, and one can only hope it does just that. Satire, clever writing and excitement yet again come through and elevate what might otherwise be "good... for YA" to a truly compelling piece that truly has something to say.

There is a lot of brutal, disturbing violent content in this, pushing the PG-13 rating about as far as it can be. I recommend this to any fan of the series. 8/10