'The Hunger Games' franchise has finally come to its end with 'Mockingjay - Part 2', the culmination of a saga that began in 2012. I still remember going out of the first movie feeling optimistic to where it is heading next thanks to the filmmakers' choices of just wanting it plain dark and grounded instead of opting for the standard-YA-Twilight fare. While teen romance is unavoidable for a genre like this (especially since this is the one that sells the most for the kind, sadly), this franchise manages to keep it as second-focus, and i'm very glad they did the same for 'Mockingjay - Part 2'.
The movie picks off immediately where 'Part 1' ends, as we see a white-washed Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) finally being rescued from President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in the Capitol. The movie didn't focus much on this bit, and although it occasionally plays on it, there's not much material to support his transformation throughout this movie. The last movie hints at an emotional face-off between Peeta and Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), but the filmmakers decided to cut it off immediately. It's a true waste of an arc since Josh Hutcherson brought a really emotional and affecting performance. You can clearly see the transformation of his acting range throughout this franchise, and he brought the most out of it here.
But all along, this is Jennifer Lawrence's movie. Katniss Everdeen is a living testament that Hollywood needs to support more strong female characters onscreen. In this movie, we see a more vulnerable Katniss that reaches a fine line between strong and scared. A more human role the way to describe it, which Lawrence played out pretty well unsurprisingly.
The movie features a handful of fantastic action sequences, but not as tension-filled as the first two films. There is a scene that took me out of the experience involving these water-monsters (?) that distances with the groundedness established by the whole franchise. Death scenes of key characters are expected here, and some of them are poorly handled. These characters are mostly given focus on the last movie, but not here. Didn't the filmmakers think of Parts 1 and 2 as completely separate movies? The deaths might've been more effective if it was made in the last movie, to be honest.
'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2' ends on a laid-back tone that doesn't feel too bombastic as anyone would expect, which really works. Lawrence and Hutcherson are at the top of their game, and gave respective and worthy send-off to one of the best young-adult adaptations we've had.
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