Year: 2015
Director: Francis Lawrence
I didn’t sign on for the Harry Potter films, as the kids mostly saw them on DVD. Lord of the Rings too. We bailed from the Hobbit after the first one. I have however made it to the end of The Hunger Games with the minimoles. Mockingjay Part One’s end felt so abrupt it was if the editors decided ‘2 hours 20 – ok we can fade to black now’ . So on with Part two. I wonder how survivors of the full Hobbit felt, as this was another 2 hours 20 minutes of film with an hour of story to stretch to fit.
Focus on the positives you say. Well it looks good – all grey post-industrial war zone. Donald Sutherland continues to be an absolute hoot as the evil president. He gets way too little screen time. There’s two shocking sequences that one reviewer correctly identified as pushing the 12A envelope – one in a tunnel, and one which Andrew Eldritch would describe as a slight case of overbombing. Peeta is much more entertaining as a Homeland-style will he/won’t he human bomb than as a weepy love interest.
But it is so slow. It’s the film equivalent of the explore/puzzle/fight patterns of Tombraider/Uncharted-style video games. Here’s it’s move slowly a bit closer to Snow/fight/run/sit around for 20 minutes talking in a depressed way about war, killing, the pointlessness of it all. Now war is depressing – but there are films which deal with it in a more subtle and engaging way than the endless staged conversations we have here. Way too much of J-Law pulling her concerned/stressed/wistful face.
And then there’s the ending. Underwhelming does not begin to describe it. I suspect this is 50% down to the writing in the original book. And 50% down to awful pacing which drags us through the endless approach to the Presidential Palace – the Bond lair where it has to finish – then we’re rushed through an ending which isn’t, a twist which is predictable but signposted a mile off and rushed through in what seems little more than a minute, and onto the ‘happy ever after’ epilogue (plot spoiler). Having said I didn’t do the Potters I did have to do the last two, and they did have (almost) enough plot for two part, and they blew up Hogwarts at the end. The only thing Hunger Games shares with the Potter ending is the excruciating children-become-parents epilogue.
Another twist. There’s no games. Give us the games. We want the games. The first two were thrilling rides precisely because of the Battle Royale for kids gladiator games. Without them it’s a crushingly obvious, humourless and grim dystopia. Stanley Tucci is limited to one propo. All the trashy thrilling bits of the first two have been removed one by one over the last two until we’re just left with J-Law staring into the distance in the murk. Forever.
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
Faithful reproductions of book. Archers. Those who are signed on to the franchise. It’s a broad demographic isn’t it?
That does sound dreary. Thanks for watching so I don’t have to.
Not that I was tempted anyway. Quite a contrast to the final Hobbit film which was anything but an anti-climax. Then again Mr Jackson probably had slightly freer hands.
OOAA of course. I thought the last two were excellent, much better than the first two. The tunnel sign was very good and yes possibly a little too scary for a 12A. Didn’t like the happy bit at the end – it was predictable and lame but up until then a very good film.
Tunnel scene of course. This predictive stuff is doing my head in.
Thanks for that. I do feel, however, that you went OTT with plot details for what’s supposed to be a review. I don’t hold out much hope for it but I’m interested to see the film and would rather not have known the beats of the ending.
Sorry you feel that @poppysucceeds, reading other reviews they certainly commented on the disappointing ending, the two best action sequences, and the (comparative) lack of focus on Tucci and Sutherland. I’ve not given you any details of what the twists are or who’s involved or who she ends up with. I think knowing the genre and target audience a happy ending could be generally predicted though I agree I perhaps should have made my comment a bit more general. Hope you still go, let us know what you think.
In fairness to Moseley, he didn’t give away too much…
Here’s my 2c…the problem with this movie is that you vaguely knew how it’d end anyway. I mean, we’d had the insane rush of 1 &2, and we knew that 3 was going to be the endgame without, er, any games. So it’s like we were *gestures* ‘here’ and we knew we were probably going to get to *gestures yonder* ‘there’ and all we were getting was 2 and a bit hours of a journey.
I enjoyed it completely, but only as something that neatly tied up the series.
Y’should still go if it’s your thing, Poppy – it’s not really been spoiled in any way for you 🙂
I disagree that ‘you know how it will end’. I don’t spend films trying to predict the climax, and anyway, if I did with this one, I’d have guessed at some kind of arena scenario, maybe something in the districts where it all began. Telling me the end takes place in the presidential palace is a spoiler, pure and simple.
Hey, I know it sounds it, but I’m not *that* bothered. Honest. Just that I’d have preferred not to know the film is moving on rails towards that particular denouement. With a twist. And then an epilogue. Too much information!
My youngest daughter loves the books and the films. I’d read the book and pronounced it unfilmable. But they sanitised the gore and violence to make it watchable for the target audience. I found the film entertaining enough and thought it was probably the best that could be done given the unremittingly grim source material. There isn’t a single joke or light moment in the entire film.
But if you haven’t seen the first three, don’t bother.