To nick a quote from everyone's favourite time-travelling physician, 'it's the end, but the moment has been prepared for'. And so we reach the end of The Hunger Games saga with Mockingjay: Part Two.
Picking up almost straight after the end of Part One, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) has been traumatised by her attack by the unstable Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). However, the rebellion against the Capitol continues and Katniss continues to be the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion. Starting with neutralising a threat in District 2, the rebels continue their march toward the Capitol to overthrow President Snow (Donald Sutherland), leading to Katniss' final confrontation with Snow...
It's a frustratingly inconsistent film. There are some great intimate character moments, for instance- the conversation between Peeta and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) about their respective love for Katniss; the wonderful showdown between Katniss and Snow in the greenhouse- but several of the action scenes are muddy and either really badly shot or really badly edited, making it difficult to see who's doing what to whom.
There's no scene that displays this more clearly than the sewer sequence where Katniss and her team are chased by Mutts (zombie-like creatures with massive teeth). The tense build-up is handled really well- almost playing like a sequence from a horror film (and pushing the boundaries of the 12A certificate)- but once the Mutts attack, the camerawork goes to pot, as does the lighting, and you're left with a morass of limbs. Frankly if Katniss hadn't screamed the name of the person who died, I wouldn't have been able to work it out. I know they're going for a kinetic pace but it's done at the cost of seeing what's going on.
Screenwriters Peter Craig and Danny Strong are mostly faithful to Suzanne Collins' source material. When I first read Mockingjay, at several points, I had a thought of 'how the hell are they going to do this on screen?' Like Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Mockingjay is dark. In places, really dark (and this is a franchise that starts with the idea of children killing each other for sport). There's a particularly defining moment in the book which, when I first read it, gave me a lump in the throat. That moment is reproduced here and it's a ballsy move by the filmmakers to include it.
Performance-wise, as all the rest have been, it's solid across the board. Lawrence is as watchable as ever as Katniss, whilst Donald Sutherland's performance has more steel and substance to it than in Part One; he's much less Bond-villain. No complaints either about Julianne Moore who brings a steely determination to the role of President Coin. Josh Hutcherson probably gives his best performance as Peeta, as he struggles to undo the torture he underwent in the Capitol whilst Liam Hemsworth is as dependable as ever as Gale. You can tell what was filmed after the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman- there's a scene at the end where Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) gives Katniss a letter from Plutarch, where it seems obvious that- had Hoffman still been around- Plutarch would have given the news himself.
Several actors get short-changed in this instalment, although make an impact when they do appear. I'm thinking specifically of Jena Malone, whose acerbic Johanna Mason has been one of the standout performances in the saga, Stanley Tucci and Elizabeth Banks, who is always superb as Effie. You can also add Gwendoline Christie to this list- the Game Of Thrones star pops up very briefly at the beginning as District 2 leader Commander Lyme but gives a suitably commanding performance.
Despite my grousing, the film is not a complete disaster and rounds The Hunger Games saga off competently. But it's exactly that: competent. Not good, not great. Competent. It had the potential to be superb but sadly, for me, that potential hasn't been realised.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Tez
I blame Harry Potter.
Splitting the film adaptation of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows into two films started a precedent, especially among final instalments of Young Adult novel adaptations. The Twilight franchise did it. The Divergent franchise will do it, and now The Hunger Games has done it. Whether it was done for a cynical marketing ploy to wring more money from the fans or whether done for the exigences of the story, I don't know (I suspect a little of Column A and a little of Column B) but, as it stands, here is Mockingjay: Part One.
After the events of the Quarter Quell, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is now in the militaristic District 13, overseen by the powerful President Coin (Julianne Moore). Since Katniss' actions in the arena (as seen in Catching Fire), Panem has been in a state of rebellion. Coin wants to capitalise on this momentum and try and overthrow the Capitol, but they need a figurehead- they want Katniss to act as their Mockingjay. There's just one problem. Several of the other tributes in the Quarter Quell arena, including Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) have been captured and are being held by President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Katniss agrees to act as the Mockingjay but there's a few conditions: one being the immediate rescue of the tributes...
Without the focus of the actual Games itself, there was a danger that there would be no focal point of action in Mockingjay. Luckily several action set pieces make up for this. It's also chockful of brilliant performances, none more so than Jennifer Lawrence.
Lawrence has been superb in the other films and continues that high level of quality here. What's interesting about Katniss' position in Mockingjay is she's not a superhero, she's traumatised and scarred by what's happened to her and that comes through. Lawrence shows a startling level of maturity, sharing the screen with some of the strongest actors working in film at the moment and matching them. Truly remarkable work.
Julianne Moore- criminally underrated- is great as Coin. She's ruthless, determined but not callous or unfeeling, just incredibly pragmatic. Donald Sutherland is similarly great as President Snow, giving quite a broad performance (almost Bond-villain-esque in places, wide-eyed madness in lieu of previous steely understatement) but in terms of the character arc, it's completely understandable. Liam Hemsworth- so often relegated to minor player in the other films- gets more of a substantive role here and does well as Gale. Philip Seymour Hoffman's scenes have an added poignancy to them but it's a reminder of how good he was as an actor as Plutarch schemes and manipulates to get Katniss to be the Mockingjay.
Elizabeth Banks returns as Effie Trinket, now much more understated away from the ostentatiousness of the Capitol but losing none of that trademark camp bite. Natalie Dormer is strong as director Cressida, charged with making the propaganda films to destabilise the Capitol. Josh Hutcherson's performance as Peeta is affecting as the effects of the Capitol's torture of Peeta is writ large across his face. Finally, there's a lovely performance by Sam Claflin as Finnick, one of the tributes who puts himself on air to divulge a few of the Capitol's nasty little secrets as the rebels storm the Capitol in search of the tributes.
The other two films have made much of the contrast between the life in the Districts and the opulence and overindulgence of the Capitol, with the Capitol scenes bright and gaudy and obscenely over-the-top. There's not much made of that this time - the whole palette of the film seems muted and there are no real flashes of colour. It's a much more serious world presented (even though they still do the really annoying and frankly nauseating camera work where the cameraman runs after the characters and the camera shakes with every jolt).
They've also picked a bit of a weird place to split the book and end the first film (but then I felt the same about Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows). They could have easily cut it a good 10-15 minutes before and ended on a nice cliffhanger, but they choose to press on and end it on a less powerful moment.
These are minor issues and do not detract from the whole thing. It's a strong film and worth your time and I'm looking forward to seeing the resolution of the franchise when Mockingjay Part Two hits cinemas next November.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Tez
Like many, we at The Watchers were shocked and saddened by the news of the untimely death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was found dead yesterday in his Manhattan apartment. He was 46.
One of the finest character actors around, Hoffman was equally at ease in a big-budget blockbuster (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mission: Impossible III) as he was in a low-budget indie drama (Jack Goes Boating, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, The Savages).
His first acting role was in a 1991 episode of Law & Order and he also had roles in Scent Of A Woman (1992), When A Man Loves A Woman (1994) and Twister (1996), before becoming recognised for his performance as Scotty J in Boogie Nights (1997), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson and Hoffman would become frequent collaborators, with Hoffman appearing in five of Anderson's six feature films to date. Other notable roles are Allen the stalker in Happiness (1998), the boorish Freddie Miles in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and grieving widower Wilson Joel in Love Liza (2002).
In 2006, he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his stunning portrayal of flamboyant author Truman Capote in Capote. He would receive a further three Oscar nominations for his supporting roles in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008) and The Master (2012).
Away from the movies, Hoffman was also a gifted stage actor, performing in The Seagull in 2001, Long Day's Journey Into Night in 2003, as Iago in Othello in 2009 and Willy Loman in Death Of A Salesman in 2012, for which he received a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Play.
At the time of his death, he was reprising his role as Plutarch Heavensbee for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and had completed work on the John La Carre adaptation, A Most Wanted Man.
A talented actor, gone much too soon. Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time.
The Watchers
(Rhys, Matt & Tez)
