Filed under: Reviews | Tags: 2015, francis lawrence, the hunger games: mockingjay - part 2
Director: Francis Lawrence
Because the series began with a contest in which children were tasked with killing each other, it was clear that The Hunger Games was destined to be relentlessly bleak. Yet, dutifully suffering through these last two installments still has the unmistakable feel of attending a funeral–the color palette is blacks and grays, characters speak about their misery in hushed, whispered tones, and not a smile is to be had. For an action franchise distinguished by a badass female hero for a new generation, it is consistently surprising just how dour the whole thing is. The problem with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (both parts) isn’t that it is merely depressing, but it consists of circular conversations and characters in stasis. The action setpieces occur only to give the heroes something new to mourn over. Those expecting a rousing finale should have known better–even the revolution of this film is viewed only through the prism of loss and needless violence, with the sentiment of renewal and the validation of heroism only treated as asides. If Mockingjay, Part 2 is a minor improvement over its predecessor because it contains one effective suspense sequence (involving Alien-like creatures in a sewer system), it shares its flaws and amplifies its shame. The lackadaisical pacing of Part 1 was excused due to the promise that Part 2 would find satisfying new directions to bring the series to its epic finale. Audiences should be rioting at the money-grubbing doors of Lionsgate after the first 45 minutes of this final installment, which has simply continued the “conflicted characters speaking in bunkers” theme from the first film without any real sense of forward momentum.
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