The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
“Welcome to the 76th Hunger Games.”
If you’re a fan of the books, you were probably aware that The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 was going to absolutely break our hearts. After all, it’s a series where beloved characters rarely die (rest in peace Rue and Cinna). So it’s a complete shock to have anyone die—let alone people we’ve grown to adore—and see them meet quite violent and gruesome ends. But I guess death is the price you have to pay for war. This film causes us to ask ourselves: is it really worth it? Katniss Everdeen would say no.
Mockingjay – Part 2 picks up where Part 1 left off: Katniss is in recovering after her fiancé Peeta, who was brainwashed and tortured by the Capitol, tried to kill her. Peeta is convinced that Katniss has been sent from the Capitol to destroy all of the rebels; he truly believes the woman he once loved is a monster, and no amount of talking from the brave and increasingly mature Primrose Everdeen can convince him otherwise. Prim is truly no longer the scared little girl of the first Hunger Games film—she’s brave and selfless. Cue tears.
Poor Peeta. Come back to us, we love you.
Like the other films in the popular franchise, Katniss seeks retribution: she wants snow dead. And as the rebels arm themselves for an onslaught on the Capitol, Katniss, Gale, and Finnick, along with a team of skilled fighters and because we wouldn’t want to miss a good photo opportunity (Coin’s orders), Katniss’s trusty camera crew (featuring Natalie Dormer from Game of Thrones) infiltrate the Capitol on a stealthy attack to assassinate Snow. But the Capital is armed and ready to make yet another game of their gruesome demises. With the help of game makers, Snow has equipped every inch of the once-opulent city with deadly traps known as pods—including infernos, machine guns, deadly liquid, as well as terrifying zombie-like fuckers (also known as mutts) . To make their “top secret” plan (disclaimer: it’s not really top secret because Katniss is recognised by pretty much everyone; the woes of being the mockingjay, the symbol of a rebellion) more difficult, District 13’s President Coin sends the psychotic and recovering Peeta to join the party. And this would be great, if it weren’t for Peeta’s annoying little tendency to forget what’s real, and try to kill Katniss. Awkward. Lucky we have the trusty Gale, who gallantly volunteers to kill Peeta if the time comes. Thanks Gale, we can always count on you. Except for when you devise a war strategy where morals go out the door, and thousands of innocents die. FYI, this is how one of our favourite characters die. Thanks again, Gale, you thoughtless jerk.
The Mockingjay and her band of merry men (and women).
Thankfully, we have the alluring and fabulous Jennifer Lawrence, who portrays Katniss perfectly. A lot of the film focuses on Katniss’s inner turmoil and emotional stress, including themes of revenge, love, passion, and most harrowingly, loss. Katniss is thrown into a world where everything she knew has crumbled—are the good guys even the good guys anymore?
Passionate speeches seem to really be her thing—in particular, one that convinces loyalists from the weaponised District 2 to cease fighting.
“You blew up our district. We blew up your mine. We both have reasons to kill each other . . . It goes around and around, and who wins? Snow. These people are not your enemy. It’s Snow. Stop killing for him! Turn your weapons to the Capitol, turn your weapons to Snow!”
I mean, at this point, she gets shot: but good speech, right?
All we’ve ever thought about District 13, and it’s mysterious, hard-hitting leader Alma Coin is a lie, something which I think the film executes brilliantly. Of course, the whole good-guy-turns-bad thing is a tad cliche, but it’s done well, so we can forgive them. In fact, it’s probably one of the more horrific and unsettling things that could happen in war–the death of children, and the sacrifice of your own medic team.
Katniss must decide who is really her ally? Gale? Coin? Peeta? Or is it Snow? Well, my dear readers, you’ll have to watch this great film to find out.
One downfall of the film would have to be how everything seems to go so smoothly. Yes, they are caught in traps. Yes, people die. Yes, Katniss is almost found by the Capitol; but everything still seems to quickly work itself out. I would have liked to see a bit more tension in the film, to have the hardships emphasised a little more. But maybe that’s something only a book with in-depth descriptions can do. Some things were changed, but overall, everything was executed well, and the acting was A-class.
I do feel like this film had less of an impact than the first Hunger Games film, which I think can be attributed to the fact that one medium-sized book was made into two quite large movies. It’s great that we get extra descriptions, but it has the result of not being as fast-paced and heart-stopping.
Mockingjay: Part 2 has everything we loved about the series’s beginning. Chillingly evil games, ploys, deception, violence and even love. Only this one has a lot more emotionally-damaging events. For instance, remember from the flashback from the first film, where Peeta burns the loaf of bread to feed the starving Katniss, though he was supposed to give it to the pig? Peeta copped a massive beating for that. In Mockingjay: Part 2, Peeta remembers. Only, it’s twisted: psycho-Peeta stabs a knife right into all of our hearts with this winner: “Seems like I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I’d just fed the bread to the pig.”
Oh, ouch. Right in the feels.
“Stay with me,” she says. “Always.”
Also, don’t go into tunnels. Ever. Don’t do it.
But by far, the most important lesson we gain from The Hunger Games series becomes especially poignant in the last few minutes of the film, where we flash forward a few years into the future. I won’t tell you exactly what happens, but it’s hauntingly beautiful.
“Are you having a nightmare?” Katniss asks. “I sometimes have nightmares too.”
It’s true, some nightmares never go away. Some nightmares we never forget. But we can survive them. If Katniss can survive the horrors of the Hunger Games, war, poverty, death and heartache, you can too, reader. After so much horror and so much pain, I’m so glad to inform you that the film ends on a lighter note. It ended in the perfect way to the perfect series—and even gives us the tools to survive the horrors of our own lives.
“I make a list of everything good. I make a game out of it,” Katniss says.
“It sometimes gets a little tedious. But there are far worse games to be played.”
May the odds be ever in your favour.
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