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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)  

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  1. 1. Grade it



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Ah, forgot this opened haha. From a couple weeks back:

 

Slow burn but immensely great. This and P1 together are an altogether different beast to CF, while that was more fun and fast paced, this is a slow burn war film, I found this especially poignant and altogether the way they did it makes sense (minus long gap between the two parts), I don’t think a CF type film would be worked for this story, it’s not that type of film at all. Brilliant and fitting end. Temper expectations in terms of epic explosive conclusion because this is a slower and more thoughtful conclusion.
JLaw: fantastic but wasn’t expecting anything but. Hutch was great, Gale is probably my main nitpick, too obvious about his principles, talks a bit too much rhetoric at start, which is an odd characterisation change from P1 . Core supporting cast (Harrelson, Banks, PSH, Malone, Claflin, Sutherland) were a joy to watch, not too sure on Moore though (although one scene early on is fantastic) but we’ll see when I see this again tomorrow night.

Other points:
- trailers featured too many major lines and that took away from their impact in the film, especially with one scene early on.
- Squad 451 cast - underused but damn Henson (Foggy from Daredevil) was a standout, wish there was more Ali.
- Coin (Moore) unintentionally funny? Drew a few chuckles from the audience.
- Credits song and suite are beautiful, bravo JNH and JLaw.
That’s it for now, more tomorrow after rewatch.
8.5/10 CF>MJ2>HG>MJ (CF>MJ1&2 together as one>HG)


REWATCH THOUGHTS: even better. Watched MJ1 that morning and MJ2 really made me appreciate how they did it. Best way to watch is definitely back to back. Will explain why in spoiler bit.
Conclusion on Moore - mega enjoyable if a bit hammy. I guess audience reaction to her at the press screening is what got me mixed initially on her. And the middle action set piece with the mutts and the meat grinder underground is absolutely fantastic. A JLaw scene late in the game is her Oscar clip if there ever was an HG one. Overall Francis and Nina delivered, again, a CF style movie would have at the very least diluted the gut punch and emotional impact of this part especially.

Also what I really loved is the characterisation and the evolution of Katniss’ arc from P1 to 2, Peeta’s state basically gets her to pull herself together. 

 

Back to back watch MJ1&2 is a must because some of the deaths, especially Prim and Boggs, make much more of an impact. Because Prim is only in two scenes before BOOM and Boggs dies too soon relative to runtime, only at the 45 minute mark

Sutherland gets the last laugh and it is EPIC. That scene is so good.
Julianne’s ham kinds gives it away what’s gonna happen to her, at least that’s who I went with (who hasn’t read the third book) felt.
One scene was very Thunderball, I was expecting Snow almost to go “this organisation does not tolerate failure”. Turns out in the end it was an Untouchables homage according to Francis, guess my SPECTRE hype got in the way lol (funny, both star Connery)
Seems critics are counting the return home as part of the epilogue, THE epilogue is only 2 minutes.

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Good movie with some of the best scenes of this cinematic year, however, its images often undermine the very same message it tries to bring across. Sometimes I wished for the shaky images of the first movie and that some of the action stuff could have been shown from a "smaller" perspective, not the action-blockbuster-wide-shots. 

 

The acting, as always, is very good and I particularly was surprised how much I have warmed to Peeta as a character and JH as an actor. Katniss can become a little bit annoying, especially after MJ1 (one of the reasons the split was a bad idea, the whole PTS stuff gets a bit old after a while) but of course JL is what elevates this whole franchise. Donald Sutherland just owns this role while his opponent Coin is - unfortunately - a bit of a caricature in Julianne Moore's portrayal. 

 

The ending.... well, it robbed the books of much of its impact and it also harms the movies. But this will be a debate that fans will probably discuss for ages.

 

 

Personally, I am satisfied with this after the bad movie that was MJ1. However, both the split as well as its increased blockbuster-feeling robs this last chapter of its potential to make the Hunger Games a truly great trilogy beyond the YA generation. Which is a bit of a disappointment as the attempt was pretty exciting to follow over the last years. For a truly great cinematic achievment the series peaked too early and wasn't carried out straight enough to its end. But there have been worse disappointments and none of them still look (and for the most part feel) so good, emotional and overall satisfying.

 

 

7.5/10

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Odd there isn't a poll, would appreciate if there was one.

 

@ShouldIBeHere, yes, caricature, that's the word I was looking for when trying to make sense of Moore's performance. Mind you I enjoyed watching it more the second time round while the first time....people just chuckled. Sutherland is incredible, him in the execution scene was quite something, and I loved that bit where Egeria wakes him up to inform him that Katniss survived.

 

This is the best blockbuster tentpole of the year for me, guess we'll have to wait and see how SW fares.

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4 hours ago, eXtacy said:

I can praise the acting but really not much else. It did have some good moments but for the most part its an unsatisfying and boring conclusion to the hunger games franchise

 

D+

Really that low?  WTF.  Some didn't even rate Spectre that low.  What the heck did you rate part 1?

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4 hours ago, ShouldIBeHere said:

Good movie with some of the best scenes of this cinematic year, however, its images often undermine the very same message it tries to bring across. Sometimes I wished for the shaky images of the first movie and that some of the action stuff could have been shown from a "smaller" perspective, not the action-blockbuster-wide-shots. 

 

The acting, as always, is very good and I particularly was surprised how much I have warmed to Peeta as a character and JH as an actor. Katniss can become a little bit annoying, especially after MJ1 (one of the reasons the split was a bad idea, the whole PTS stuff gets a bit old after a while) but of course JL is what elevates this whole franchise. Donald Sutherland just owns this role while his opponent Coin is - unfortunately - a bit of a caricature in Julianne Moore's portrayal. 

 

The ending.... well, it robbed the books of much of its impact and it also harms the movies. But this will be a debate that fans will probably discuss for ages.

 

 

Personally, I am satisfied with this after the bad movie that was MJ1. However, both the split as well as its increased blockbuster-feeling robs this last chapter of its potential to make the Hunger Games a truly great trilogy beyond the YA generation. Which is a bit of a disappointment as the attempt was pretty exciting to follow over the last years. For a truly great cinematic achievment the series peaked too early and wasn't carried out straight enough to its end. But there have been worse disappointments and none of them still look (and for the most part feel) so good, emotional and overall satisfying.

 

 

7.5/10

Your qualms seem well justified, and I think your review was pretty fair.  I understand people have different opinions but the person who gave it a D+ (A D+ really? I mean I could understand/respect a C, but a D sounds a little too extreme IMO) sounds to be overreacting.  I mean, a lot of people gave Part 1 a C and some a D, and most think Part 2 is at least a small improvement over part 1 so it doesn't make any sense.

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2 minutes ago, Audrey said:

Your qualms seem well justified, and I think your review was pretty fair.  I understand people have different opinions but the person who gave it a D+ (A D+ really? I mean I could understand/respect a C, but a D sounds a little too extreme IMO) sounds to be overreacting.  I mean, a lot of people gave Part 1 a C and some a D, and most think Part 2 is at least a small improvement over part 1 so it doesn't make any sense.

 

And if extacy was the only person on earth who liked MJ1 more (he/she isn't), it still wouldn't mean that his opinion "doesn't make sense". 

 

When you say that you understand people have differing opinions just do so and do not go on telling people their opinion is basically wrong.

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1 hour ago, Audrey said:

Really that low?  WTF.  Some didn't even rate Spectre that low.  What the heck did you rate part 1?

I liked Part One a lot more. It worked well as a setup but this was the Part that was ment to deliver the goods and it didn't.

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9 hours ago, Audrey said:

just saw it.  Better than part 1.  Overall, a 7.6 out of a 10 and a B+ from me.  Second best only to catching fire.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Im trying to sum all my feelings up into coherent words and to organize all my thoughts where it actually makes sense as my mind is going to numerous places. So overall, i did love this movie, and i think ill stick with the word love because i think it deserved it. It wasnt perfect by any stretch but overall as a whole i think Francis did the best he could with eh written book. 

 

So i think ill start with my negatives just to get it off my chest, the worst and most glaring to me was Prim's final scene. I found it to be really quick and so glossed over as it was shot so shaky, you didnt even know it was her at first (my sister told me that, she said she didn't even know she died until snow's comment. Good to know from a non-book reader). Why in earth would francis shoot that in fucking shaky cam??? Why was it so quick?? Even in the book, you felt like time had stopped for a second and everything was in slow motion. I feel like they just dropped the biggest death like it was nothing (my biggest pet peeve with the whole film franchise was that they never gave prim enough time to show that bond with katniss, or mentioned her enough). I just was really dissapointed in how poorly her death was shot.

 

Second biggest criticism was coin. I feel like she was not ever given into how cruel she was in the book. I said one of my drawbacks in part 1 was that they never depicted her dark side and made her come off as a good person. Here, it felt so random and all of a sudden shes off trying to kill  katniss whereas in the book it was not a surprise. Her character was really a big letdown here as she was an interesting yet ironic twist to the story.

 

My only other complaint would be the ending, though im not going to fault them for that since its in the book and when in doubt, just follow the book. I guess my issue is that it felt like they never touched upon how damaged both katniss and peeta are.

 

Now for things i love: i loved all the action scenes like the black oil and mutts, done very nicely! I actually thought Josh did a very great job playing peeta and how he slowly, as you could see, started regaining a bit of himself. Gale was alright, no different. I loved the buttercup scene even despite being mad about prim. Finnick's end was so sad :(

 

Overall, i loved the movie, will give it a B+ 8.5/10 rating. I think if i had to order it: 

 

CF (by far the best): 9.5/10

MJ2: 8.5/10

HG: 8/10

MJ1: 7/10

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I'd say I guess I liked it. all the stuff with josh hutcherson pretty much stops the movie dead they have the same conversation about whether to trust him and who she's gonna chose like 47 times. I was surprised how the pacing issues seemed way worse in this one than part 1 I thought it would be the other way around, after taking its time w/ everything the third act is crazy rushed, nothing in that segment has the impact it should. overall higher highs than the last one I loved that scene in the sewers so I'd give it a passing grade.

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This really could've been a phenomenal final film if the two parts became one 2.5 hour satirical phantasmagoria. Lots of wasted moments here. BUT, still some compelling stuff, exceptional set and costume design and some fine work from Harrelson and Lawrence.

 

I actually thought the compelling moments in Part 1 were more galvanizing and indelible than the moments here even though Part 2 had a more compelling story to relay. Somewhat disappointed but it serves it purpose. Will certainly please fans of the book. And, hey, isn't that and money the only reason these tent poles are split in two?

 

C+

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Overall, it's a strong finale for the series but it suffers from many of the same flaws the last two have suffered from.  It also remains evident that this should not have been a two part movie, there just isn't enough material to justify it.

 

On a good note, the performances remain strong, at least for being a young adult movie.  The film travels at a decent pace, it does take the film a little bit to get going (as they don't make the pre-Capitol material that interesting) but once it does you're in it till the end.  And the subject matter as a whole is great material to expound upon, I just feel like they could have gone much deeper if it wasn't constrained as a young adult film.

 

I do love how it's (somewhat) honest about a revolution.  How in most cases when you topple one dictator you simply are replacing it with another.  I love how in the end it isn't Snow who kills Prim, but the rebellion Katniss is a figurehead of.  The political side of this could make for a great film, the problems just seem to bog it down.

 

The scene in the sewers is probably the best scene in the movie.  The entire movie should have stuck to that type of tone and pace.  The only time I felt anxious and worried for the characters.

 

The love triangle is as eye roll worthy as ever, it again bogs down a movie with a lot of potential.  I honestly think you could cut the Gale and Peeta characters out of the story as a whole and it'd be better for it.  I understand their purpose, but the way they're implemented into the story is sloppy and sappy.

 

Peeta also feels like a major plot hole to the movie.  It made absolutely no sense why they didn't leave him behind as soon as they got him.  That was a flaw in logic for all the characters to be like, "Oh I guess we have to take him with us now."  I understand why he was put back into the story from a plot perspective, but the logic was flawed.  It seemed like a lazy plot device to get a major character back into the story and add an additional obstacle to overcome.

 

It feels very skeletal as well, simply because it's a two part movie.  It felt stretched beyond where it needed to be.  Also the emotional impact of many of the deaths wasnt entirely there.

 

I didn't dislike the movie, it was a decent finale, but the more I talk about it, the more the flaws come up.  There is plenty to like, and it's very well shot.  The majority of the problems seem to come from the source material and the decision to make it two movies.  

 

Id still recommend seeing it, as the last half of the movie is definitely worth the watch.

 

B-

Edited by The Panda
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I liked it. Overall, a good movie.

But I had some problems with the lack of emotion, I think it was "too cold", especially when

Spoiler

Prim died and when Gale came to talk to her after all.

I mean, "Goodbye Gale". WHAT!

I think the move decreased A LOT from this part, lost the rythim.

Oh, and I LOVED the way they handled the Philip Seymour Hoffman death.

I think they made miracles with both of the movies, because I thought the Mockingjay book was insufferable.

 

B+

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I have been thinking about MJ2 for two days now, and I have come to the conclusion that it is the darkest, and most realistic blockbuster-franchise film we have ever seen. Not even The Dark Knight is as dark as Mockingjay Part 2. It's a bleak conclusion, but powerful in its surprising amount of realism. There are pacing issues in MJ2 - and it's almost always regarding Peeta being hijacked and trying to find out the truth. It's too much. 

 

But there are scenes in this film that are unlike anything we have seen in a blockbuster film before. For example, there is a beautifully subtle yet potent scene in which Katniss talks to Gale after the death of Prim, and says with extraordinary accuracy, "Goodbye, Gale." And in that second, the entire relationship between Katniss and Gale ends. Because Katniss is (rightfully) unable to separate the death of Prim from the bomb that killed her, which was made by Gale. The film succeeds mostly in its quiet moments, but at its grandest moments, it's a spectacle to behold. When Katniss turns the bow and arrow to President Coin instead of Snow is mesmerizing, and Snow's reaction to that is Oscar-worthy. 

 

I certainly have my issues with it, but the undeniable power of its themes that are so relevant to the world today are impossible to ignore. 

 

A

 

A huge improvement over the mediocre MJ1 (which I rate a C). 

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So this was #3 on my most anticipated movies of 2015. Stars Wars is #1 and Avengers was #2. And wow this movie sucked so badly. By far the biggest letdown of 2015 for me. Like I had a feeling Terminator could suck but I loved Catching Fire and actually really liked Mockingjay Pt 1. The political dialogue was interesting there but this...jesus, talk about horrible pacing. 

First the good:
The oil scene
The alien/mutt scene
The scene where they are running out of the sewer
The scene where Katniss and Gale blend in to Panem
The arrow scene

That might seem like a lot but this is a 137 minute movie. Nothing even happened until 45 minutes into it! After all that setup of part 1 I thought for sure they were done talking about war and were actually going to show it but noooo they spend all of that time preparing again. Then when they finally do show it we get 5 minutes! That's it. 

Like you can't promise this big conclusion after Catching Fire and then not deliver. They walked into Panem after the war started and I was like really? Where did everyone go to leave this huge city like that? That would have made an interesting movie instead of the same conversation over and freaking over again. 

So what we get is an action set piece followed by characters going into a room to talk about it. Peeta will bring up something about being tortured but we'll never see what he went through. He'll also keep saying that you can't trust him. Yeah Peeta, sorry dude that sounds like a pretty horrible experience. Next big action scene. Oh some of us made it out alive! Oh no, they are approaching another room......characters are sitting down annnd we're back to talking again. *facepalm*

Peeta: Kill Me.
Katniss: No. 
Peeta: Please Kill Me
Katniss: Well I don't know
Gale: If anyone is going to kill you, it will be me
Katniss: I love you
Peeta: You know you guys should really kill me.

The rest of the dialogue I can barely remember and I just saw this like 4 hours ago. I think it revolved around getting to Snow. It was so bad. Every time they would try to build tension from the action, it was back into another room with whoever survived the last attack to talk. And none of the dialogue was interesting! It was just dull. I was like holy shit, this should have been called Talking Jay Pt 2.

So they finally actually build tension during the big blend into the crowd scene and the bombs fall, Prim dies (how she got there yeah that is never explained)....and that's it? That's all we get to see? Haymitch telling Katniss "Oh well the Revolution came in and took over. The war is over.".....Seriously?! After 2 years of waiting to see this big end you're going to pull that card? More telling us what happened instead of showing it? Yeah that's super effective and inexcusable considering the money these movies make.

But then after that the movie decides hey we haven't talked enough so after that big scene, guess what there's more of? You got it! About 20 minutes of more freaking talking. During this Coin does a 360 after not showing any signs of being evil at all in Part 1 to satisfy the plot. And who couldn't see Katniss was going to shoot her instead of Snow after she announced another set of games. That was so exciting and suspenseful, bravo!

Then to close it out Katniss tells her baby "One day I'll explain it to you."  And I was thinking gee movie, that's just freaking fantastic since nearly all you have done for 90% of your 137 minute run time is explain things that happened instead of actually showing them. I hope they hire Francis Lawrence to tell her child this amazing story of The Hunger Games.

This was such a major disappointment. After all the build up of Part 1 I thought this to go out with a bang and it definitely does not. If you love Catching Fire make up your own ending, I would almost bet it's better then what is here.

Please Star Wars, freaking please don't let me down like this did. That will break my heart.

C-/D

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