The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 **** (2015, Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth) – Movie Review

The Hunger Games races to its conclusion in the fast-paced, exciting climax, crisply made and sharply edited by director Francis Lawrence from its original two hours and 51 minutes two hours and 17 minutes.

Peter Craig and Danny Strong’s literate, grown-up screenplay explores the unique, quirky characters and dark themes of Suzanne Collins’s young adult novel Mockingjay, while making sure it delivers three or four thrilling bursts of extended action and a satisfying conclusion.

Of course it all hinges on Jennifer Lawrence‘s angst-ridden performance as rebellion leader Katniss Everdeen as she brings together an army against evil President Snow, and she is worth her weight in gold, as persuasive and convincing in the dialogue as she is in the action. But the older generation prove their worth too, especially Donald Sutherland as Snow, Julianne Moore as President Coin and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy. These are classy actors, and they bring all their class and commitment to the movie.

There’s not much Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth can do with Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne, because they’re really only there to provide Katniss’s love interests, but they do it well enough. Both men are charming in their very different ways, so they are ideal. Will Katniss ever make up her mind who she’s going to end up with? We shall see!

Sam Claflin‘s Finnick Odair, Elizabeth Banks‘s Effie Trinket, Stanley Tucci‘s Caesar Flickerman, Jena Malone‘s Johanna Mason, Jeffrey Wright‘s Beetee, Wes Chatham‘s Castor and Elden Henson‘s Pollux are all present and correct, but don’t get enough screen time to impress, so maybe we’ll have to wait for the extended DVD cut for that.

That leaves it all to Katniss, and she’s in safe hands with Lawrence, who understandably hardly smiles once through the rather grim-toned movie, even at the final, wistful ending.

They’ve successfully managed to create a rich, full performance by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has a key role in the story as Plutarch Heavensbee, but I imagine much of this is CGI done, like Paul Walker’s half-completed posthumous performance in Fast & Furious 7.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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