Granted the most frustrating part of this approach is that as an audience we are being forced to pay twice for what is essentially one long film that clearly didn’t need to be so long. As seems to be par for the course with these films, Part 1 is nothing more than filler before hitting the part everyone wants to see. In the absolute final chapter we see reluctant rebellion leader Katniss Everdeen risk everything to form an army to take out evil President Snow played by Kiefer Sutherland’s dad Donald.
As we’ve already said, everything has been building to this, so it’s fair to assume that we are going to just jump right into it, but yet again, we have to build. This franchise has been very good at tricking you into thinking you’re watching a full-blown action movie, but when you step back and look at it, there’s a lot of talking. We’ve got deep heart-to-hearts, lots of pontificating, strategic meeting after strategic meeting always focused on building the importance of what is at stake. This may seem like a criticism, and in some ways it is but in other ways it is not.
As far as films based on Young Adult fiction go, The Hunger Games series is far stronger than your Twilights and Divergents. They cover broader themes, they know how to build tension, story and character, they have a stronger pedigree of acting talent involved between Lawrence, Harrelson, Sutherland, Moore and the final on screen performance of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman; but the series still has Peeta. Yes Peeta, the most useless person to have in a death-battle royale. Once again, Peeta is being dragged around by other characters and like always, he serves as more of a hindrance than help, which really makes you wonder about his appeal or purpose beyond a forced love interest.
Now let’s quickly get through the nit-picky stuff: There are some conflicting narrative elements between propaganda and priorities; characters are killed for not confirming Everdeen’s death but then later the Capitol are completely happy to televise and report on her supposed death with no actual confirmation. We have two warring factions obsessed with their own brand, yet do nothing when they are being hacked during their own broadcasts. It all seems to just be convenient for the plot. Jennifer Lawrence has definitely outgrown this franchise to the point where throughout most of the film she just looks bored and looks to have taken a leaf out of the Kristen Stewart book of acting. The film is overly long and easily could have been condensed, you know, like into one film. The ending is so long and drawn out that it makes Return Of The King seem conservative.
However, all these negatives don’t overshadow what this series does well. For a blockbuster, it is not afraid to tackle themes that really relate to our current climate. Previously, they have tackled the issues behind Reality Television and have shown the impact of propaganda; this time the focus is on the politics and casualties of war, the impact of being displaced, allusions to the Syrian refugee crisis and blurring of the lines between heroes and villains during times of war. Say what you will, but you will not find themes like that in your Transformers movies or many other of your big-budget affairs.
The finale is dark and grim with some huge action set-pieces, explosions, black-oil runs, weird alien-like faceless creatures, falling ground and all the other things you’ve come to expect from a Tomb Raider game - I mean *cough-cough* a Hunger Games movie.
Overall, the film series wraps everything that needs to be wrapped up nicely, if not grimly, but the question of whether it was worth splitting into two would best be answered by readers of the books. For my money though, I still feel that I’ve been charged twice for one film.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 gets Three and a Half out of Five Stars (although if you half that like they did this final installment then that score doesn’t seem too crash-hot)
No comments:
Post a Comment