Hello, everyone. It's been a while since I've posted anything here. I'm excited to be hopefully posting more regularly, and I thought that a Mockingjay review was the perfect place to start. As always, there will be spoilers in this review.
I'll start out with my overall thoughts on the movie, then get into more specifics later on. I don't think that there is any way that I can really put how much I loved this movie into words. It was everything I wanted it to be, and I was not disappointed. Francis Lawrence and all of the actors continue to amaze me every time I watch a new movie from the Hunger Games franchise. After how incredible Mockingjay Part One was, it would have been easy for part 2 to be worse. Luckily, this was not the case, and I loved everything about the film. Like part 1, I think that this movie was directed towards the fans of the books, and it won't mean nearly as much to people who have not read the books. For example, I'm going to take a second to complain about the people who were in my theatre. During the scene where Katniss yells at Buttercup, telling the cat that Prim is dead, everyone in the theatre was laughing. I'm not even exaggerating. Almost everyone was laughing during the scene, while I was sitting there practically sobbing. Anyway, I think that the movie encapsures what the book is, and does the book justice. My favorite part of the movie had to be how many direct, or almost exact, quotes there were straight from the book to the screen. I am so happy with how these four movies turned out, and I am glad that I have gotten to experience all of them.
I would first quickly like to jump to the end of the movie before I start the rest of the review. I'm doing this because I would like to both thank Jennifer Lawrence and complain about the people in my theatre a little bit more. During the Katniss/Buttercup scene, Jennifer's crying wasn't pretty. It was real, ugly sobbing. A lot of people in my theater were laughing, and saying things about how it was gross, but I thought that Jennifer could not have done that scene any better. I am so grateful that she didn't shy away from that scene. She didn't try to make it pretty. And that's is quite fitting considering that Katniss's life is not pretty. War is not pretty, and Prim's death is definitely not pretty. Jennifer has always taken The Hunger Games to a very real place, and I wish more people appreciated that. And some of me can understand why people were laughing. I mean, Buttercup was just sitting there are doing nothing, but I guess what really bothers me is that I feel like laughing at that scene lessens the importance of it.
I have two slight complaints about the movie, and it isn't really a even a compliant, but I figured we should just get it out of the way. To me, the movie was lacking Finnick. I wish that he was in the movie more, and I know that there was a time constraint, but I would have loved seeing more Finnick/Katniss scenes. I do appreciate how they made his death scene longer than it was in the book. They showed that Finnick didn't go without a fight, and I love that because that's who his character is. Also, they cut out the whole training scenes with Katniss and Johanna. That was one of my favorite parts of the book, and while I can understand why they cut it, I definitely missed that part of the storyline. I have no problems with any of the other few changes they made in the movie, because they were slight and I could understand why they changed some small details.
I really like how they started the film and how they started on the same topic that they ended on in the previous movie. The wedding scene was beautiful, and Finnick and Annie looked perfect. This movie really made me appreciate how strong Katniss is. One of the most common things I hear about Mockingjay, both the book and the first movie, is that she is too winey. And other than the fact that I completely disagree with anyone who says this, I'm glad that we also got to see how Katniss can rise to the occasion no matter what and is willing to do whatever it takes to ultimately save people. There were so many times where I had chills because of the different speeches that Katniss was giving. Katniss is such an amazing character and the director, writers and Jennifer Lawrence did her justice. I thought that all of the pods and the holo were so well done. It was exactly as I had pictured it and they brought the book to life perfectly. I also loved how calm the ending was, after she had killed Coin. I liked how they had Katniss go back to her district alone, and they movie didn't overcomplicate it. The epilogue was incredible and I love the chemistry between Peeta and his son. When I heard that there weren't going to be voice overs in the meadow scene, I was worried that they would cut out what Katniss says at the end of the book. But, they kept what she said about her game and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was sobbing because of that epilogue scene.
It is no secret that before Mockingjay part 1, I was not a huge fan of Gale. And I do credit the first Mockingjay movie for changing my view of him. There were parts of the movie where I really liked Gale. We really got to see that he cared for Katniss, and he never left her side. But, this movie did a great job at closing off the love triangle even better than the book, in my opinion. We really go to see how different Katniss and Gale are. And because of that, it makes the viewer understand why they can't end up together. The scene when the Nut is about to be bombed and Katniss and Gale argue over whether killing is personal or not was one of the fist times I fully understood why Katniss couldn't chose Gale. And while this movie showed the detariation of the Katniss and Gale relationship, it also really builded on Peeta and Katniss's relationship. We got to see how strong their love for each other was, and I appreciate how their relationship was handled in not just this film, but all four movies.
I thought that the tension between Katniss and both Coin and Snow where perfectly portrayed in the movie. One of my favorite scenes was when Katniss and Snow were talking in the rose garden. That scene was so incredible and it couldn't have been done any better, in my opinion. I loved how at the end, Snow brought back the promise that they would never lie to each other. The Katniss and Snow relationship was one that I have been fascinated with since the start of the series, and I think that they closed it off and did it justice. And, of course, Coin and Snow's death scene was everything that I wanted it to be. I don't know why I was ever worried about it, it turned out to be more than I ever imagined.
The last thing I want to quickly talk about is the score for both parts of Mockingjay. I love music, specifically music scores and the music for this film really set it apart from other book to movie adaptations. I think that the music gave the film a depth that was both necessary and beautiful.
Okay, I'm done now. Sorry that this was a bit long winded. I will conclude this review by saying thank you to the cast, director, writers and anyone who had a part in the wonderful franchise. I must specifically thank Suzanne Collins for bringing such an amazing story to life, and to Jennifer Lawrence for bringing an extraordinary character to life. I will miss these books and movies so much and I am incredibly grateful that I was able to experience them.