Quickie Review:
War is escalating, both the Capitol and the Resistance are at a point of desperation. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), the reluctant face of the rebellion must continue her role as a propaganda icon. At the same time she wants vengeance for all the pain and suffering President Snow (Donald Sutherland) inflicted on her and everyone she holds dear. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is gruellingly overstretched, it is clear that splitting the movie into two parts really hurt the movie as a whole. Simply put, it is not engaging or entertaining. The continuous drab tone makes an already long movie difficult to bear.
Full Review:
I like the first two films of the franchise, I even state that in my review of Part 1. However, it all changed when I saw Mockingjay Part 1. I thought it was a decent movie but a definite step back in the franchise. I went into Part 2 hoping this would be the payoff for all the melodrama we had to endure in the previous film. Surprisingly, I found this movie to be even worse!
The positive for most people will be the cast. They probably performed better than the script deserved. Especially, President Snow as the antagonist continues a menacing presence in Katniss' struggle in the war. Unlike Part 1, there are some exciting sequences of action but they are just too far and few between. Nevertheless, I enjoyed these parts of the movie because they rid of the constant shaky cam of the previous films and had better shot composition. So this is as good as the finale is going to look.
About a year ago after watching Part 1 I was irritated by the fact it was split into two parts, little did I know I'd be even more frustrated with Part 2. First of all this movie is just a collection of going from one checkpoint to the other. ACTION SEQUENCE – people sitting down and having long depressing talk – now rinse and repeat that several times. Even these talks, the long runs of dialogue are about things the characters having been trying to figure out since the first film. A major example of this is the love-triangle of Peeta, Katniss, and the pretty boy Hemsworth Jr. See, we are four movies in and that's how little I care about this love-triangle that I don't even know the name of the third person in the bloody triangle! Even the audience I watched it with audibly "ugh"ed whenever that came up. I won't go too much into plot but there are some major twists and turns that our main characters uncover. However, due to the splitting of the story, the build-up in Part 1 doesn't have the same momentum into Part 2. Which only led me to question Katniss' intelligence for not being able to see what's clearly obvious to the viewers. I also mentioned how depressing and drab the tone of the movie was. I understand that this is a war, and they are difficult times, but there are ways to bring some levity while respecting the circumstances. Speaking of war, where the hell is the war!? That's right, we don't even see the war in this movie. All we hear is distant gunfire that's it because we are only following one small squad that are only there to shoot propaganda.
This is the studio mocking the audience for spending money on blatantly clear cash-grabs. Thankfully I have a monthly movie pass so I don't pay extra, but if you are thinking of spending your hard earned money on a movie to watch, this is one to avoid. There so many instances of snail crawling pace, Part 1 and 2 could've been combined to be one good 2-2.5 hour movie. At the same time I can't fault the producers for the decision because it is clearly paying off for them in the bank account.
War is escalating, both the Capitol and the Resistance are at a point of desperation. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), the reluctant face of the rebellion must continue her role as a propaganda icon. At the same time she wants vengeance for all the pain and suffering President Snow (Donald Sutherland) inflicted on her and everyone she holds dear. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is gruellingly overstretched, it is clear that splitting the movie into two parts really hurt the movie as a whole. Simply put, it is not engaging or entertaining. The continuous drab tone makes an already long movie difficult to bear.
Full Review:
I like the first two films of the franchise, I even state that in my review of Part 1. However, it all changed when I saw Mockingjay Part 1. I thought it was a decent movie but a definite step back in the franchise. I went into Part 2 hoping this would be the payoff for all the melodrama we had to endure in the previous film. Surprisingly, I found this movie to be even worse!
The positive for most people will be the cast. They probably performed better than the script deserved. Especially, President Snow as the antagonist continues a menacing presence in Katniss' struggle in the war. Unlike Part 1, there are some exciting sequences of action but they are just too far and few between. Nevertheless, I enjoyed these parts of the movie because they rid of the constant shaky cam of the previous films and had better shot composition. So this is as good as the finale is going to look.
About a year ago after watching Part 1 I was irritated by the fact it was split into two parts, little did I know I'd be even more frustrated with Part 2. First of all this movie is just a collection of going from one checkpoint to the other. ACTION SEQUENCE – people sitting down and having long depressing talk – now rinse and repeat that several times. Even these talks, the long runs of dialogue are about things the characters having been trying to figure out since the first film. A major example of this is the love-triangle of Peeta, Katniss, and the pretty boy Hemsworth Jr. See, we are four movies in and that's how little I care about this love-triangle that I don't even know the name of the third person in the bloody triangle! Even the audience I watched it with audibly "ugh"ed whenever that came up. I won't go too much into plot but there are some major twists and turns that our main characters uncover. However, due to the splitting of the story, the build-up in Part 1 doesn't have the same momentum into Part 2. Which only led me to question Katniss' intelligence for not being able to see what's clearly obvious to the viewers. I also mentioned how depressing and drab the tone of the movie was. I understand that this is a war, and they are difficult times, but there are ways to bring some levity while respecting the circumstances. Speaking of war, where the hell is the war!? That's right, we don't even see the war in this movie. All we hear is distant gunfire that's it because we are only following one small squad that are only there to shoot propaganda.
This is the studio mocking the audience for spending money on blatantly clear cash-grabs. Thankfully I have a monthly movie pass so I don't pay extra, but if you are thinking of spending your hard earned money on a movie to watch, this is one to avoid. There so many instances of snail crawling pace, Part 1 and 2 could've been combined to be one good 2-2.5 hour movie. At the same time I can't fault the producers for the decision because it is clearly paying off for them in the bank account.