The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)

[ShouldIBeHere]

Actually BotFA and MJ2 suffer from similar problems in parts.

 

many underdeveloped characters

sub-plots that do not enhance each other but cancel each other off

unfocused action scenes

suffering from split (especially starting the movie)

while over-long both still have charatcer-building-scenes missing

 

 

What is better about BotFA is that it found its pace in the second half and ended with scenes that reminded one what was so great about that franchise while MJ2's pacing goes completely out the window and ends with the worst scene of the franchise.

Edited November 24, 2015 by ShouldIBeHere

[John Marston]

15 hours ago, baumer said:

Not only is this the worst Hunger Games (and that's saying something), not only is this worse than any of the Hobbits, it's one of the worst films I've seen in my life.  Notjhing happens until about the 90 minute mark and it felt like the film just went on and on.  And the end of it just seemed so silly, so out of place.  It's like the writer just decided that there had to be a twist somehow.  Instead of us seeing a final battle or at least a confrontation between Snow and Katniss, we are left with President Coin telling Katniss that she gets to kill Snow but he tells her that they were both played for fools by Coin.  And so we don't get any final confrontation between them, instead we just see Snow get killed by an angry throng of villagers.  So horribly anti-climactic and so utterly disappointing.  

 

Then there's Gale's exit, which I do not understand why it was written that way.  Somehow it looks like he did something wrong.  WTF.  I mean this is a guy who was fiercely loyal to Katniss all throughout the series and they conveniently cut him out of the picture so that her decision is easy.  

 

You have all this build up for three films and you are waiting for some kind of huge and satisfying conclusion and instead what you get is a bunch of people talking, then talking some more, and more, and more, and more exposition, then Prem dies for reasons unexplained as to how she even got there and then you have the President decide that there's going to be another Hunger Games, after they just spend the last three books being pissed off that there was in the first place.  And the n Katniss throws a tantrum at her cat and even the cat looks at her like, "WTF are you saying?" I have no idea how this series got so popular. It's absolutely fucking horrible.  

 

Oh, and there's a scene where some albino looking four legged creatures attack them, and they have no guns, no knives and all they do is knock them around a bit.  Yes, a few people die but no one important.  And here's the funny thing, our "heroes" have guns, so why don't they just make a stand and shoot the albino dogs?  Instead they try to run.  STUPID STUPID STUPID.  Who wrote this screenplay, Damon Lindelof?

 

Then finally at the end, we have a Harry Potter ending.  Horrible.

 

I hate this film.  Hate it.

 

0/10

 

 

 

 

Because of the female lead 

[Nutterbutter]

then Prem dies for reasons unexplained as to how she even got there

 

In the book, it is explained (or hinted, I forget) that it was Coin's calculated decision to place Prim, a 13-year-old still-in-training medic, on the scene specifically so she would die in the second explosion, to unhinge Katniss and solidify her allegiance to Coin's anti-Capitol regime once and for all. The movie should have made that clear, though, because as with any adaptation, you should not have to read the book first to get the plot in the movie.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Nutterbutter

[misafeco]

22 minutes ago, Nutterbutter said:

 

 

 

In the book, it is explained (or hinted, I forget) that it was Coin's calculated decision to place Prim, a 13-year-old still-in-training medic, on the scene specifically so she would die in the second explosion, to unhinge Katniss and solidify her allegiance to Coin's anti-Capitol regime once and for all. The movie should have made that clear, though, because as with any adaptation, you should not have to read the book first to get the plot in the movie.

No, it's not explained in the book more than in the movie. Nobody knows for sure who let Prim go to the Capitol.

The answer is obvious though, even if you haven't read the books.

[Nutterbutter]

If I hadn't read the books, I wouldn't have thought anything more of it beyond "Medics are responding to the scene," "Oh yeah, they said Prim was training to be a medic," the end.

 

You're right, the book doesn't explicitly say that her being there was Coin's doing. It's hinted, though, as I said. Katniss kind of puts it together on her own - figuring that Prim being there when she really had no business being there would have to have been approved by someone high up, i.e. Coin, and theorizing Coin's reasons for doing so in light of what Snow revealed about the bombs and what Katniss suspects of Coin's motives in general - but no one ever confirms it one way or another.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Nutterbutter

[AndyLL]

10 hours ago, Goffe said:

well, Hobbit 3 looked a bit better

 

but both were very very boring

 

yeah but the Hobbit was 12 hours long so the pain lasted longer

[misafeco]

1 hour ago, Nutterbutter said:

If I hadn't read the books, I wouldn't have thought anything more of it beyond "Medics are responding to the scene," "Oh yeah, they said Prim was training to be a medic," the end.

 

You're right, the book doesn't explicitly say that her being there was Coin's doing. It's hinted, though, as I said. Katniss kind of puts it together on her own - figuring that Prim being there when she really had no business being there would have to have been approved by someone high up, i.e. Coin, and theorizing Coin's reasons for doing so in light of what Snow revealed about the bombs and what Katniss suspects of Coin's motives in general - but no one ever confirms it one way or another.

Maybe the audience is smart enough to figure it out? 

The Katniss vote is the same. Some people didn't get why she said 'Yes', but when i read the book it was clear for me. I knew in that moment that she'll shoot Coin instead of Snow (and it was even more clear in the movie).

[somebody85]

18 hours ago, misafeco said:

I can't be worse than BotFA. That's mathematically impossible. 

 

Oh yes it is. At least BOTFA kept my attention the whole way through (as long as that was too). I was wide awake during this thing and was becoming incredibly restless as this went on. The last time a movie did that in theaters for me was Terminator: Genisys. I was not invested in any of it until they showed up in that crowd and the guards started looking for faces. I thought the oil scene was badly paced too. Peeta runs and hits her during it...the oil magically stops coming at them and splashes up. It didn't even look like they were rushing or in any danger. The collapsing floor was cool but any tension built up from that scene was killed by going to the Cat Ladies place. 

 

I agree with Baumer, Catching Fire must have been a fluke because that's the only one I really liked. That had a lot of really good world building and tense moments. The original felt cheesy once they got to the games and they rushed through the Rue scene (a lesson they didn't learn 3 years later with Prim). I thought Mockingjay Part 1 was good because I imagined it was leading into something. How hard is it to mess up a story about a revolution? I guess ask Suzanne Collins.

When Katniss screamed at the cat, I was like damn what did that thing do to you. I was long ready for it to be over. Then when she tells her baby that "One day I'll explain it to you when you're ready", I'm pretty sure I said something out loud. Sorry fellow theater goers.

There are so many ways this could have been a better movie and they chose all the worst routes.

Edited November 25, 2015 by somebody85

[somebody85]

7 hours ago, misafeco said:

Maybe the audience is smart enough to figure it out? 

The Katniss vote is the same. Some people didn't get why she said 'Yes', but when i read the book it was clear for me. I knew in that moment that she'll shoot Coin instead of Snow (and it was even more clear in the movie).

Oh don't even go there man. I must have missed the Prim is becoming a medic line because of how much I zoned out during this thing. For the movie to not even offer a lead in to why she was there besides a throwaway line is extremely lame. People said there was more scenes with Coin leading her there in the book when I went to IMDB after seeing this....well I didn't read the book. I shouldn't need to read the book to know what's going on. So without the book, she was just there and the movie gave no explanation for it. I felt no emotion when it happened because of how rushed that entire sequence felt.

I knew in that moment she would shoot Coin too. That was obviously her only reason for saying yes. I think everyone did after Coin announces that there will be another set of Hunger Games in pure soap opera fashion. Even the music reflected it. You know what would have been great though? Maybe if the writers spent some time in Mockingjay 1 and 2 to show that Coin was evil. They definitely didn't besides a few lines. Worse is the "twist" wasn't even that because Coins motivations came from more throwaway lines. So when it happened it wasn't even surprising.

Katniss finds out about Coin like this "Oh by the way Coin see's you as a threat when the Districts take over so you might want to watch your back, good luck out there!" when she was supposed to be staying back in the first place. Like seriously movie? That's the best you can do for such a huge development in your story?
 

Cop out after cop out. The Anti-Climatic Games: Talking Jay Part 2

Edited November 25, 2015 by somebody85

[misafeco]

4 hours ago, somebody85 said:

Oh don't even go there man. I must have missed the Prim is becoming a medic line because of how much I zoned out during this thing. For the movie to not even offer a lead in to why she was there besides a throwaway line is extremely lame. People said there was more scenes with Coin leading her there in the book when I went to IMDB after seeing this....well I didn't read the book. I shouldn't need to read the book to know what's going on. So without the book, she was just there and the movie gave no explanation for it. I felt no emotion when it happened because of how rushed that entire sequence felt.

I knew in that moment she would shoot Coin too. That was obviously her only reason for saying yes. I think everyone did after Coin announces that there will be another set of Hunger Games in pure soap opera fashion. Even the music reflected it. You know what would have been great though? Maybe if the writers spent some time in Mockingjay 1 and 2 to show that Coin was evil. They definitely didn't besides a few lines. Worse is the "twist" wasn't even that because Coins motivations came from more throwaway lines. So when it happened it wasn't even surprising.

Katniss finds out about Coin like this "Oh by the way Coin see's you as a threat when the Districts take over so you might want to watch your back, good luck out there!" when she was supposed to be staying back in the first place. Like seriously movie? That's the best you can do for such a huge development in your story?
 

Cop out after cop out. The Anti-Climatic Games: Talking Jay Part 2

I thought they handled Coin well. Her character is expanded from the book with more scenes. We already knew that she wasn't afraid to sacrifice someone if that helps winning the war. We knew from Part 1 that she is cold and manipulative. We knew that she sent Peeta after them while he wasn't stable enough. There is a conversation between Boggs and Katniss when they talk about why would Coin do this. The parachutes with Prim's death and the final Hunger Games voting were the final nail in the coffin.

[MovieMan89]

Baumer's hatred for this franchise has always been the strangest and most unfounded to me of any opinion of his I have ever seen by a long shot. You would honestly think this franchise was responsible for the death of all his loved ones or something. Such an utterly bizarre choice of a franchise to hate too...

[Goffe]

47 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

Baumer's hatred for this franchise has always been the strangest and most unfounded to me of any opinion of his I have ever seen by a long shot. You would honestly think this franchise was responsible for the death of all his loved ones or something. Such an utterly bizarre choice of a franchise to hate too...

 

that's not how things work. One just doesn't "choose" to hate a film. We have seen several people giving MJ2 super low grades, a 0 out of 10 is not a stretch.

[ShouldIBeHere]

1 hour ago, MovieMan89 said:

Baumer's hatred for this franchise has always been the strangest and most unfounded to me of any opinion of his I have ever seen by a long shot. You would honestly think this franchise was responsible for the death of all his loved ones or something. Such an utterly bizarre choice of a franchise to hate too...

 

I am not surprised that someone who did not care for the firs three all that much would hate this one.

 

There are parts in it when I as a casual audience member did not really feel "included". Like I am almost not meant to see this.

[lilmac]

B

 

About as good as Mockingjay Part 1. Acting was ok. Ending seemed anti-climactic as was the invasion of the Capitol. I wanted to see more of how the rebels were able to take the city. Alot of it happened off-camera. 

 

 

The best part were all the booby traps.

[Gopher]

I probably enjoyed baumer's review more than I would the movie itself

 

(for the record, I literally checked out of Part 1 90 minutes in)

[ladyevenstar22]

i enjoyed it and give it an A ! i even teared up at the end who doesn't like a happy ending , a lot of dialogue felt eery considering our actuality right now in france still so raw  esp convo katniss has with guy outside district 2 tunnel ... and plutarch letter at the end didnt even realize it was because actor died .

 

i loved peeta's quiet growth as one of my fav character ,dunno i get sentimental with series ending . very poignant ending that reminds you however dark things might seem or get life will find a way to keep going on , i'm happy they found some happiness after all even hamish seemed to have sobered up and might have a fling with effie for a sec i thought she was going to shout to him wait and run to him a la whitney houston  !

 

i esp loved when she told gale "goodbye gale" so much in 2 words awww!

 

mind you i'm someone who at first felt a complete distaste for the entire plot concept and just couldn't get excited over the hunger games dystopian reality and last year near december i finally decided to give the books a chance , odds were high they'd be better than the first 2 movies and sure enough i gained a fond appreciation for the characters plight and much prefer the story once it leaves the arena  !

[somebody85]

Things that would have made this a much better movie and a good finale:

________________________________________________________
 

Deviate from the source material - so many people say they hated the ending of Mockingjay so why follow so closely to what was in the book on screen?
 

Immediately open up with flashbacks leading all the way back to Catching Fire and show the other Districts watching what happened in the Hunger Games. Show them start to revolt after seeing Katniss shoot that arrow. Lead into montages showing Peeta being tortured at the Capitol and how badly he was being influenced by Snow. Show District 13 being bombed. Show what we didn't see in Mockingjay Part 1 which was the easy rescue of Peeta. Show Snow watching his rescue and letting it happen.
 

Have this lead to present day with President Snow telling Panem to evacuate and that the Districts are coming. Show the people leaving these buildings and going somewhere else. Show more of Caesar here trying to calm everyone down and continuing to build our protagonists up as the enemy. Show Snow ordering all these pods to be set in the city.
 

Show the Districts getting closer and starting to take over the Capitols army. For example: more stuff like what we saw during the dam scene in Mockingjay Part 1.
 

After all this is shown, cut to Katniss present day in the hospital bed just like the movie starts with. Delete all the filler stuff including the District 2 scene where she is shot that leads nowhere. I know all of that sounds like a lot but they could have easily covered it in the 45 minutes this started with where nothing happened.
 

Make the trip into Panem a much quicker journey with way less rest stops and take the focus off the Katniss, Peeta & Gale love triangle in those scenes where they have to rest. There is so much bigger stuff at stake then all of that.  While their mission is going on continue to show scenes of the Districts gaining on the capitol and fighting their army.
 

Get rid of all of Peetas endless conversations about being tortured because we saw it happen in the beginning of the movie and don't need to hear about it again. We know what the character went through. This character development felt dull and consistently killed the movies pacing.
 

Taking place of those scenes would be the buildup of Coin becoming the villain. Show her on screen ordering for Peeta to be there and her motives behind it instead of just having Boggs say a few throwaway lines about how Katniss is a threat once this is over.
 

Show her ordering Prim to the spot where the bombs eventually fall. Because in the movie itself, Coin being the villain isn't a twist once those throwaway lines are said by Boggs. Everyone can sense something is coming so when Katniss has her conversation with Snow, it is hardly a shock that Coin is just as big a threat. 

 

Seeing Prim in that split second is not this big emotional moment either. If there was lead up to it, a sense of dread would have been built making her death so much more powerful. It would have made the audience realize how helpless Katniss is to stop it and obviously that she couldn't save her to begin with when she volunteered in the first movie.
 

This in turn also would make the execution of Coin way more crowd pleasing and meaningful because the movie actually built up to her being the damn villain and ordering this vile act at the gates.
 

After Katniss blacks out at at the gates of Snows mansion, at least show a few minutes of the Districts storming the Capitol and capturing Snow.
 

Change the final scene to something grimmer but still hopeful.

________________________________________________________
 

I think the movie would have worked so much better if they would have built it that way. That's just my opinion but that seems like it would have given the audiences everything they wanted and in turn, felt like a much more complete story. Instead it was a lot of tell and now show. Most of what happened was off screen.
 

Unlike what people think, the revolution itself didn't have to be this big scene with Katniss and crew storming the capitol to get to Snow. But they needed to show way more then they did after that buildup.

Edited November 28, 2015 by somebody85

[Webslinger]

Although it does not reach the heights of the first two films in the series, I thoroughly enjoyed this series capper. As I expected upon reading Mockingjay, the decision to split it into two films - while obviously motivated more by money than anything else - works on a creative level because it gives the material the breathing room of which it was deprived in the source material. Whereas the proceedings of the novel feel rushed, the fact that the films have been allowed to give the machinations within the plot the proper time to marinate makes the ultimate outcome more satisfying on the screen than it was on the page. Jennifer Lawrence's performance as Katniss Everdeen remains the best overall attribute of the film. I'm glad that Lawrence will now have the opportunity to spread her wings (no pun intended) in a greater diversity of roles, but it's tough to understate the impact that she has had upon this franchise's success from day one. She has never brought anything less than full conviction to the role, even in this closing segment; the intensity in her eyes in an intense monologue spoken with a gun to Katniss's head early in the head is all it takes to assure viewers of Lawrence's commitment to this role until the bitter end, and she delivers on that promise until the very last scene. Her easygoing chemistry with Josh Hutcherson also goes a long way toward selling a relationship that the script doesn't do the sharpest job of developing (which is, by extension, a weakness of the source material). Like the previous installment, this film also does solid work in exploring relatively dark themes for a four-quadrant film. The filmmakers wisely don't shy away from the darker developments of the novel, but they still integrate enough low-key humor that the film doesn't feel excessively grim. As could be expected - even with the expansion of the novel into two films - many of the film's weaknesses are also weaknesses of the source material (namely, the lack of screen time for the film's antagonists - which is especially galling considering that they're played by Donald Sutherland and Julianne Moore). Nevertheless, even though the endgame doesn't deliver on the promise of the early installments, The Hunger Games avoids the pratfalls to which every young adult franchise without "Harry Potter" in its title has fallen victim, and it's potent enough to register as a worthy finale for the series that got off to such a strong start in 2012.

 

B+

[Blankments]

A fitting conclusion for the end of a trilogy. Unfortunately, Lionsgate and Francis Lawrence decided to break this finale into two, which greatly marred Mockingjay Part 1. Part 2 is slightly better, but still is overlong. Jennifer Lawrence is ready to say goodbye to this role, but leaves Katniss with one of her best performances yet. Other performers don't come off well during this, either phoning it in (nearly every adult) or trying too hard to match Jennifer Lawrence (everyone else). The only one who seems to be enjoying it is Donald Sutherland, finishing Snow off with relish. To be fair also to most adult actors in this, all are underused to varying degrees, as the film focuses on Katniss and Peeta as usual. The action is good, and the last twenty minutes are some of the best this franchise has been. However, I still think a 165 minute singular Mockingjay film would've been a lot better. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 is still worth seeing, if just to get closure for a saga that lasted these last few years. B-

[The Panda]

The more I think about it, the more I realize this really wasn't a good movie at all.  In fact it might be the worst in franchise, it's soured more than the others within a week.

 

C-