The end of the games

In many ways the final movie of the epic Hunger Games series is a fantastic movie, with great cinematography and special effects. However, compared to the rest of the hit series, Mockingjay Part 2 falls flat.

In the final movie of the trilogy, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and the rest of the rebel force make their final stand against the Capitol. Everdeen must completely embrace her role as the Mockingjay--the face of the revolution--as she works to defeat the Capitol. Typically stubborn, she can't just do things the way the rebel leader Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) wants. Katniss takes it upon herself to assassinate President Snow (Donald Sutherland), which she believes will solve all of the problems that face Panem. Coin wants Katniss to remain a figurehead for the revolution. But with her small team including her two "lovers" Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth), as well as past Hunger Game winners such as Finnick (Sam Claflin), Katniss embarks on her journey to end the rebellion once and for all. The movie would not be complete without the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale and although it has become increasingly clear through the past movies that Katniss has some serious feelings for Peeta. Gale sure does try and keep it interesting.

The actors in the movie continue to effortlessly maintain the personalities audiences have come to love. Many of the characters go through major personality changes through the movie as they discover their wants for their own future and the future of Panem. The star in this movie is clearly Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence does a great job of portraying how Katniss struggles with her emotions regarding the rebellion. Though Lawrence does a great job acting through the movie, some scenes seem cheesy and forced, especially the scenes between her and Hemsworth, though that may be more of a testament to the writing than the acting.

Hutcherson's performance in this movie stood out as well. Through most of the movie he has to play a capitol brain-washed crazy man, who hates Katniss and the rebels with a burning and crazy passion. His acting was very compelling and one of the most interesting parts of the movie.

Cinematically this movie was beautiful. The shots were artful and creative, and the (few) action scenes were filmed in such a way that they were interesting and gory but not overwhelmingly so. Director Francis Lawrence uses intriguing shots throughout the film. For example, when Katniss is set on fire and there is smoke and fire swirling all around her, also the scene when she dances with her sister at Finnick's wedding and spins so much that the viewer ends up dizzy.

There are a lot of very impressive special effects in this movie as The Capitol uses traps to try and stop the rebels from gaining on them many of which are slightly deranged, including a lake of hot oil that snatches people up and kills them on contact, walls of fire, beams of light which disintegrate people and creepy half alien half mutt creatures. The effects were very realistic and made the viewer feel as if they themselves were in danger. The effects also added an element of surprise because they were very abrupt.

There is solid acting, incredible shots and good special effects; so why does this movie fall so flat?

It was boring, boring enough to lull the viewer to sleep.

It was a two hour plus movie and the first half mostly consists of talking about war strategy and disagreements regarding who would go where and who would do what.
It didn't speed up until Katniss went rogue with her small crew and had to get through the Capitol to get to Snow's mansion and it took too long to get to the point where the crew gets to Snow's mansion in order to complete their goal. Compared to the first and second movies, which were chock full of action, both parts of the third book are uninteresting.

Mockingjay does not stand well alone. It takes too much thinking back to past movies to tell what is going on. For hard-core Hunger Games fans, this movie would make perfect sense but to the casual fan there are points that just won't make much sense.

Mockingjay is not a bad movie. It is also not a fantastic movie. For the superfan or even the casual fan, it is not a must see. It would be better to save your money and wait for the movie to be released outside of theaters. For the new fan: Don't start with this one. Go back to the beginning. The first two are much, much better.