Four Stars

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is an exciting movie that ends the Hunger Games series.

However, the movie (2 hours and 17 minutes, rated PG-13) could have been written a little better.

The film picks up at the end of part one, but seems to skip parts of the story throughout the movie. Part one is much more about the unity of the districts and part two is only focused on the mission of Katniss (Jennifer Lawerence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and the other rebels to destroy the capital.

The Mockingjay story shouldn’t have been split up. The flow of the story would have made much more sense if there would have been just one movie. The director (Francis Lawerence) could have made one longer movie with an intermission, but Hollywood is too busy worrying about its bottom line rather than destroying the storyline of a movie.

Since the director divided the Mockingjay into two movies, then he should have been able to fill in some of the details that seem to be missing.

Furthermore, the ending is extremely predictable, dragged out and does not really bring home the series. Even though I haven’t read the book yet, I could tell that the movie cut out some important information that left the audience confused in one of the big moments. President Snow (Donald Sutherland) has some tricks up his sleeve and has an influence on Katniss, but the movie doesn’t explain why.

The best part about the movie is the climatic action. Even though the ending is pretty obvious, there are great scenes that made my heart stop. This movie is packed with lots of action and fighting – a big difference from Mockingjay –Part 1.

I am very ecstatic that the game makers are a part of this movie as well. The creativity of game makers is what keeps the series fresh and kept me on the edge of my seat.

In addition, Lawerence plays Katniss beautifully, as she always does. Her portrayal of the rebellious, angry revolutionary is flawless. She has a stunning scene at the end that shows her softer side, which is a nice contrast to the whole series.

Hutcherson seems confused (literally) throughout the movie. It seems like Hutcherson has a little bit of trouble playing a distressed character and is more out of his element than in the other movies.

Hemsworth finally gets his time to shine as an actor in this final movie. He was a great choice to play Gale, and his bravery is seen in this movie more than ever. He also admits to Peeta that he should have volunteered in Peeta’s place in the first reaping, but is reminded of how he took care of Katniss’ family and how important he is in her life. Peeta and Gale know that Katniss must pick one of them, and that scene made it even harder for her.

Mocking Jay – Part 2 is a must-see film. It could have been more detailed, but it had the perfect amount of love, action, war and peace that ended the series in an interesting way.