Movie Review - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 ** (out of 5) (PG-13) If you’re obsessed with this fantasy series, you might have enough patience to find this fourth and final installment worthwhile. It does finish the saga with reasonable outcomes, but the path for our heroes is longer and duller than all we shared with them in the first three films, adding up to a major disappointment. Jennifer Lawrence returns as the inspirational Joan of Arc figure, Katniss (a/k/a The Mockingjay), leading the dystopian districts of Panem in their revolt against The Capital and its Machiavellian president (Donald Sutherland). It’s a metaphor for all colonial conflicts, as well as economic oppression of rich against poor from ancient times to the present. Today’s presidential debates and political commentary come to mind far too easily while watching “escapist” action fare like this.

The film runs well over two hours, and was sorely in need of a firm hand to trim the moping and brooding, and ramp up the action. One of the uprising’s biggest victories occurs briefly in the background. Whatever they saved on the CG budget couldn’t have been enough to brush past that moment only to include more hand-wringing and silent reflections than anyone needed. Good plot; good characters; poor directing. Tedious end to an otherwise compelling series. Katniss and her fans deserved a better send-off. (11/20/15)