Dustin: 3.5 of 5 stars Nick: 3 of 5 stars Average: 3.25 of 5 stars (Woozy canary)
Dustin: The Hunger Games - Part 4: Mockingjay - Part 2 is the last installment in The Hunger Games trilogy for real this time. Jennifer Lawrence reprises her role as Katnip Evergreen in her personal quest to kill President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and bring balance to Panem.
Nick: I have to admit I am so happy this series is finally over with until of course they remake it in 10 years. Though I must admit I’m waiting for this whole YA franchise-into-movies thing to end even more. The Hunger Games is easily the best out of all the genre, but it still tries so hard to evoke drama that it feels more like a soap or Lifetime film rather than a drama on the silver screen.
Dustin: I’m getting tired of these YA movies too. Admittedly, I’ve only seen this series, the first Divergent movie, and The Host. They all pretty much follow the same formula, and I mentally check off each item as I sit through them. Pretty girl with bland personality who turns out to be somehow more specialer than everyone (check), some kind of training montage (check), two hunky male love interests (check, check). The best thing I’d say about the Hunger Games movies is that they do the formula better than the others.
Nick: I’m in agreement for the most part but there are so many grandstands and speeches in this film meant to give hope or drive a character forward that it becomes an even more diluted version of the drama it’s trying to create. As well every time there was a character telling another “Don’t worry everything is going to be alright,” I turned to my mom and said, “So, that character is going to die!” and they sure enough did. Also whenever there is a wedding between two tertiary characters one of them will surely end up dead. (R.I.P. Remus and Tonks)
Dustin: That’s a pretty famous trope.
Dustin: I’m getting tired of these YA movies too. Admittedly, I’ve only seen this series, the first Divergent movie, and The Host. They all pretty much follow the same formula, and I mentally check off each item as I sit through them. Pretty girl with bland personality who turns out to be somehow more specialer than everyone (check), some kind of training montage (check), two hunky male love interests (check, check). The best thing I’d say about the Hunger Games movies is that they do the formula better than the others.
Nick: I’m in agreement for the most part but there are so many grandstands and speeches in this film meant to give hope or drive a character forward that it becomes an even more diluted version of the drama it’s trying to create. As well every time there was a character telling another “Don’t worry everything is going to be alright,” I turned to my mom and said, “So, that character is going to die!” and they sure enough did. Also whenever there is a wedding between two tertiary characters one of them will surely end up dead. (R.I.P. Remus and Tonks)
Dustin: That’s a pretty famous trope.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 should have been combined into one film called The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. Both movies had long spells that just dragged. I remember spending a lot of time during this one with my head resting on my hand just waiting for the movie to get to the point.
Nick: Though Harry Potter did the same thing with more of a reason (700 pages), it also stalled in its first Part 1 (my least favorite in that series) and the same happened with Hunger Games. The first part was such a drag with no uptempo, while this film drags a lot between its interesting action sequences. The best thing about this series is the casting of brilliant, established actors like Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Philip Seymour Hoffman and of course Lawrence while mixing with lesser known brilliant actors like Jena Malone, Elden Henson, Robert Knepper and Elizabeth Banks. They all do a good job, but their dialogue (which isn’t their fault) sometimes made me laugh for the wrong reason and kept me from EVER being truly instilled in the drama. Though Sutherland truly is remarkable as Snow.
Dustin: The all-star cast certainly lends these films some street-cred. I hated President Snow, and that is a testament to Sutherland’s performance. I couldn’t even recognize the smartalek character I loved in MASH (granted, that film is 45-years-old).
Nick: Though Harry Potter did the same thing with more of a reason (700 pages), it also stalled in its first Part 1 (my least favorite in that series) and the same happened with Hunger Games. The first part was such a drag with no uptempo, while this film drags a lot between its interesting action sequences. The best thing about this series is the casting of brilliant, established actors like Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Philip Seymour Hoffman and of course Lawrence while mixing with lesser known brilliant actors like Jena Malone, Elden Henson, Robert Knepper and Elizabeth Banks. They all do a good job, but their dialogue (which isn’t their fault) sometimes made me laugh for the wrong reason and kept me from EVER being truly instilled in the drama. Though Sutherland truly is remarkable as Snow.
Dustin: The all-star cast certainly lends these films some street-cred. I hated President Snow, and that is a testament to Sutherland’s performance. I couldn’t even recognize the smartalek character I loved in MASH (granted, that film is 45-years-old).
It’s interesting you compared this to the last Harry Potter, because like Harry Potter, this movie also had a pointless epilogue, which I will go ahead and spoil because it was truly pointless. Does the audience really care Katnip will go on to get married and have two kids?
Nick: It should have ended right before that with her in bed with the man she loves, but I think it went on to do that to end the film on a happier note, which I’m assuming the only thing the writer could think of was “Let's give her kids! Everyone is happier with kids! Especially two people with extreme PTSD.”
Nick: It should have ended right before that with her in bed with the man she loves, but I think it went on to do that to end the film on a happier note, which I’m assuming the only thing the writer could think of was “Let's give her kids! Everyone is happier with kids! Especially two people with extreme PTSD.”
Dustin: I also thought when it cut to black right before the epilogue that was a perfect ending point. I groaned when the sunny meadow came up. The scene right before that was tender, but also had an ellipsis. The tweenage girls who are the most devoted fans of the series might wanted a happy note to end on, but I didn’t find the epilogue convincing, and it was pointless to boot. I could imagine if Stanley Kubrick had directed these, the epilogue would have been Katnip and Peeta in some kind of couples counseling for PTSD.
Nick: The most jarring concept to me was the character of Tygress. I only assume that’s how it’s spelled considering what series we are watching. Why couldn’t it have just been a normal (for Hunger Games) looking person instead of a seemingly spliced half-tiger, half-human character, which I had not seen any character look like throughout the series. Maybe I missed the spliced characters from before, but it sure didn’t stick out like Tygress (Taigriss).
Dustin: Well, there are people with body modifications in the real world too, and it’s jarring to see them at the mall, liquor stores, job interviews. But that is a funny point. Right after they take shelter with Tigris (thank you, Hunger Games wikia), Katnip and Gale put on a disguise to slip into the crowd taking shelter at President Snow’s mansion. Their disguise is a large black hooded jacket. I’m sorry, but I think the Storm Troopers, I mean, Peace Keepers, would be well within their rights to shoot them and ask questions later. In a city where outlandish makeup and hairstyles are the norm, they go with the most suspicious-looking cover ever. Were the writers lazy or just stupid?
Nick: I think the writer(s) were constantly lazy. When the twin sisters were left in the building of the rebels’ last known location they could have carried the wounded sister to the building across the street with them and left her there, which would have been at least a logical move. Also the most combat-ready character with the most experience is the one who runs head-first into a possibly mined area and dies. Also when the character who has been brainwashed and is hitting his head against his own gun you might want to put him in handcuffs. Also when Gale tells Peeta I’ll take you out if that time ever comes, so you mean the guy in your squad that he just killed wasn’t enough? I feel like I could go on and on and I don’t know who to blame, the writer of the book or of the movie? I get it, it’s nitpicking, but when the entire film can be nitpicked it’s kind of a problem.
Nick: I think the writer(s) were constantly lazy. When the twin sisters were left in the building of the rebels’ last known location they could have carried the wounded sister to the building across the street with them and left her there, which would have been at least a logical move. Also the most combat-ready character with the most experience is the one who runs head-first into a possibly mined area and dies. Also when the character who has been brainwashed and is hitting his head against his own gun you might want to put him in handcuffs. Also when Gale tells Peeta I’ll take you out if that time ever comes, so you mean the guy in your squad that he just killed wasn’t enough? I feel like I could go on and on and I don’t know who to blame, the writer of the book or of the movie? I get it, it’s nitpicking, but when the entire film can be nitpicked it’s kind of a problem.
Dustin: I have a feeling the problem stems from the books. I doubt these movies strayed too far from the source material given the fanbase they had to please. I think a lot of the writing had to come from the hack mind of Suzanne Collins. Men simply don’t talk like the characters in this movie. Two male rivals don’t sit down and talk about their feelings, or ask others what they’re thinking. Especially when they come from a dystopian future where you have to play everything close to the chest as your true thoughts can get you killed.
Nick: Long Live the End of The Hunger Games! Both the game and the book and movie series. Another part I found amusing was when Coin was afraid of the support Katniss had and was hoping she would die, yet she gave her the honor of killing Snow in front of all the unified forces. Would that not make her even more popular?! Also, the fact Coin stood on a ridge right above Snow with her hands outraised made that scene so ridiculous. It would have been better if she was standing far far behind Katniss on a ridge over-looking the scene and Katniss turns around and lets the arrow go quickly. Instead of a close up on Katniss, her obvious lifting of the arrow and letting that arrow go towards Coin. It was a very bland moment that should have been huge! It might have been bland because it was so obviously going to happen with everyone talking shit on Coin while later in the film she became a tyrant like Snow. I also love the way people die in films like this so beautiful and gracefully. Julianne Moore falls from the high-up ridge after being shot with the arrow and falls on a thin piece of cut stone laying there as if she had died of a heart attack.
Dustin: There was one set piece I loved in this movie, and that was the one regarding the lizard mutts chasing Katnip and the gang through the sewers. It was an intense, nightmarish scene that got my heart racing. It was like something out of a different movie.
Nick: It was a very well filmed and intense scene, but also had many obvious moments. When the new leader was the only character left on the other side of the stone wall while not a single other character aiming their gun through the hole to protect her! (These are all trained in combat people, besides Peeta). And also the death of the character who was married early on in the film. The way it was filmed kept telling me this is the scene where he would die. Maybe only film students would notice that, but it kept showing him more and more isolated. While it’s also a thing that a tertiary character who is kicking a lot of ass in a battle will more than likely end up getting hurt or dead and he of course was the only one kicking ass!
Dustin: I also liked the twist at the end. I won’t spoil it, but I guess it shouldn’t have come as a surprise Julianne Moore’s character (Hillary Clinton) turned out to be a duplicitous politico. Or that the rebels would turn into Robespierres as soon as they took over. I guess I did spoil it…
Nick: I already spoiled it! But not really! From early on the film sets up Coin as the real enemy who needs to be defeated by end. And she is, but in a very bland scene that lacks any true emotional weight.
Nick: Long Live the End of The Hunger Games! Both the game and the book and movie series. Another part I found amusing was when Coin was afraid of the support Katniss had and was hoping she would die, yet she gave her the honor of killing Snow in front of all the unified forces. Would that not make her even more popular?! Also, the fact Coin stood on a ridge right above Snow with her hands outraised made that scene so ridiculous. It would have been better if she was standing far far behind Katniss on a ridge over-looking the scene and Katniss turns around and lets the arrow go quickly. Instead of a close up on Katniss, her obvious lifting of the arrow and letting that arrow go towards Coin. It was a very bland moment that should have been huge! It might have been bland because it was so obviously going to happen with everyone talking shit on Coin while later in the film she became a tyrant like Snow. I also love the way people die in films like this so beautiful and gracefully. Julianne Moore falls from the high-up ridge after being shot with the arrow and falls on a thin piece of cut stone laying there as if she had died of a heart attack.
Dustin: There was one set piece I loved in this movie, and that was the one regarding the lizard mutts chasing Katnip and the gang through the sewers. It was an intense, nightmarish scene that got my heart racing. It was like something out of a different movie.
Nick: It was a very well filmed and intense scene, but also had many obvious moments. When the new leader was the only character left on the other side of the stone wall while not a single other character aiming their gun through the hole to protect her! (These are all trained in combat people, besides Peeta). And also the death of the character who was married early on in the film. The way it was filmed kept telling me this is the scene where he would die. Maybe only film students would notice that, but it kept showing him more and more isolated. While it’s also a thing that a tertiary character who is kicking a lot of ass in a battle will more than likely end up getting hurt or dead and he of course was the only one kicking ass!
Dustin: I also liked the twist at the end. I won’t spoil it, but I guess it shouldn’t have come as a surprise Julianne Moore’s character (Hillary Clinton) turned out to be a duplicitous politico. Or that the rebels would turn into Robespierres as soon as they took over. I guess I did spoil it…
Nick: I already spoiled it! But not really! From early on the film sets up Coin as the real enemy who needs to be defeated by end. And she is, but in a very bland scene that lacks any true emotional weight.
Dustin: Suzanne Collins spoiled it when she consciously ripped off Battle Royale.
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