The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (12A)

USA 2015 137 mins Dir: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Despite spanning a relatively brief three and a half years, the Hunger Games movies (adapted from Suzanne Collins’ novels) have taken us on a turbulent and emotional journey. The main reason, of course, is because they’ve anchored to one of the most memorable big-screen heroines of recent times. As superbly played by Jennifer Lawrence, it’s little surprise that Katniss Everdeen has been wholeheartedly embraced by audiences: selfless, brave, feisty yet continually faced with having to make unpalatable, selfish and often downright devastating decisions, Katniss’ struggle has been palpably felt throughout the series.

And with dramatic finale Mockingjay – Part 2 now bringing everything to a close, Katniss’ journey isn’t getting any easier. In fact, this is by far the most emotionally troubling entry in the series, transcending its glib ‘young adult’ moniker and refusing to offer easy solutions to its dark political complexities. This intelligence is ultimately what carries the movie through its somewhat unwieldy, awkward structure and its occasionally fumbled interludes, but more on that in a moment.

Since appearing as a persecuted Tribute of the dystopian Panem in 2012’s The Hunger Games, Katniss has subsequently become embraced as a resistance symbol – or mockingjay – in 2013’s Catching Fire and last year’s Mockingjay – Part 1. However, whereas Katniss’ status has largely been seen as a force for good until now, Mockingjay – Part 2 cleverly (and chillingly) deconstructs that very notion, questioning whether she is completely blameless for the violence that has erupted throughout Panem.

The end of Mockingjay – Part 1 saw the secretive District 13 under siege from the forces of the tyrannical President Snow (a wonderfully hissable Donald Sutherland). This second half of the concluding two-parter finally sees Katniss and her fellow rebels bringing the fight to Snow’s doorstep. However, allegiances are in flux: ambivalent District 13 President Alma Coin’s (Julianne Moore) loyalties are uncertain, and even Katniss’ not-quite-love-interest Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) is compelled into shocking acts, beginning with the merciless bombing of innocent people within the Capitol-controlled District 2.

Rebelling against the manipulation of her image by District 13’s propaganda unit (including the wonderfully sly Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final role as Plutarch Heavensbee), Katniss sneaks behind enemy lines to bring down Snow once and for all.  After all, what good can she do whilst stood in front of a camera? Only thing is, Snow has laced the Capitol with ‘pods’: deadly booby traps ranging from fire to oil and more besides. And there’s another problem: her actual love interest Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) has been brainwashed by Snow’s forces and convinced that Katniss is now the enemy. One of the movie’s most emotional arcs involves her having to convince him of what is real and what is fabrication. All’s unfair in love and war, nowhere more so than a genuinely terrifying attack of ‘mutts’ in the Capitol’s sewer system.

I Am Legend helmer Francis Lawrence does an excellent job not only keeping everyone in play but coaxing out terrific performances across the board. With the steely, raw Lawrence anchoring proceedings, everyone ups their game including Hutcherson, pleasingly given more to do as the conflicted Peeta, and the deliciously malevolent Sutherland whose carefully manicured Santa Claus beard adorns a gleefully glinty-eyed visage.

Even when Hunger Games staples like Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch Abernathy and Elizabeth Banks’ Effie Trinket are largely side-lined, there is always a chance of a carefully-placed close-up or dialogue beat to convey a host of flavourful character dimensions. One of the most memorable additions is Eugenie Bondurant as the strikingly tattooed and hauntingly tragic Tigris who, with a one-scene appearance, almost walks away with the entire movie.

Backing up the robust performances are the unerringly dark themes: for all the conflict, it slowly dawns on Katniss that this is a battle she can’t win, with the possibility that one dictator toppled will surely give rise to another. This is reinforced in one of the movie’s best scenes: a greenhouse exchange between Katniss and Snow, in which he expertly undercuts her trust in her close allies with the calculating calm of a boy pulling wings off a fly. This no longer deserves to be classed alongside Twilight and other infantile young adult properties: there are messages of genuine import here regarding war, propaganda and power.

Good thing, because as a piece of coherent storytelling Mockingjay – Part 2 is often deficient. Key scenes, including battles, are often kept off-screen with dialogue awkwardly filling us in on moments we really ought to have been witness to. This may well be a holdover from Collins’ novel, or maybe it’s a desire to keep everything limited to Katniss’ point of view, but it sometimes feels dramatically unsound. This becomes a bigger problem during key emotional moments: the fate of one important character fails to have the immediacy that it should because the film intentionally delays Katniss’ emotional response until later on for seemingly greater impact. It’s a risky gamble that sadly feels a bit fudged.

Even so with the unerringly engrossing Lawrence acting as the eye at the centre of the storm, the journey is no less than gripping. Little wonder this has been a star-making role for her: even when the films stumble, Lawrence is the arrow that continually hits the target. And we’re with her every step of the way.