With every Hunger Games released, I went in with low expectations and came out finding each one to far exceed them. With the newest and final installment in The Hunger Games series, Mockingjay—Part 2, I, for once, went in with high hopes…and the film lived up to my anticipation. Mockingjay—Part 2 may not be my favorite Hunger Games, but it certainly is the most satisfying. The series retains its complex themes and grey morality till the very end, concluding on a high note while avoiding major clichés.
Politics and media remain The Hunger Games’ backbone till the very end, hidden behind intense, gruesome, and engaging carnage. Why such a complex series is considered “young adult” is beyond me—is it because the films are based around teenagers? Teenagers who are forced to go through mentally and physically torturous events, most of them slaughtered by the series’s conclusion. Or maybe it’s because there’s a love triangle—a triangle created as a means for political deception and a slightly better chance at survival, and ends up psychologically damaging all three characters involved. No, The Hunger Games IS NOT a young adult series, at least not in the typical sense of Twilight and Divergent. It’s a mature series that can thoroughly engage teenagers and adults alike.
The story continues right after Mockingjay—Part 1: where a rescued Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) is revealed to have been programmed through torture to view Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) as the enemy, attacking her viciously whenever in proximity. Katniss, having successfully completed her propaganda job, is told by rebel leader Coin (Julianne Moore) to rest and allow the rebellion’s military forces to handle the rest. Yet Katniss has come too far to let President Snow (Donald Sutherland) be killed by others—her vendetta against the dictator having long since become personal. Katniss sneaks back onto the front lines, determined with a vengeance to kill Snow—who would, up to this point, be the first human life Katniss took. Realizing Katniss won’t rest, Coin and Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman, in his final film performance) alter plans by giving her a squad and an assignment. Katniss is assigned to travel behind the active battlefield, recording her movements through her propaganda film crew. Katniss agrees to the task, all the while still secretly planning her assassination mission. The squad is informed that while they’ll be away from the fighting, their mission will still be very dangerous—with active booby-traps called pods still lying in wait, containing lethal attacks such as blazing flamethrowers, automated machine guns, and engulfing tar pits. The pods are specifically made to demoralize the rebels, with President Snow using his own media to record the traps’s effects (Katniss’ squad member Finnick refers to it as “The 76th Hunger Games”).
The political situation gets more intricate when Coin sends the still mentally unstable Peeta to join Katniss’ group. Coin claims it’s to show the enemy they’ve brought Peeta back to their side, yet there remains a more sinister motive, with squad leader Boggs (Mahershala Ali) warning Katniss how Coin views her rebellious actions as dangerous and untrustworthy.
Boggs: Would you vote for Coin as President?
Katniss: (Pauses to consider)
Boggs: If your answer isn’t immediately yes, then you’re a threat.
Coin sends Peeta as a way to “unintentionally” kill Katniss, eliminating a possible threat while also using her as a martyr to increase the rebellion’s determination (killing two mockingjays with one stone). Story wise, it’s a clever way to bring Peeta back into the fray while avoiding cliché explanations, as well as diving deeper into the series's grey ethics.
Mockingjay—Part 2’s visuals and cinematography have reached an all-time high for the series, coming a long way from the queasy cam days of the original. Everything is beautifully shot, with the film taking its time to thoroughly showcase such visual eye-candy. There’s a scene where Katniss dances with her sister (Willow Shields) right before leaving—at first the pair casually spin while dancing, until Katniss stops to tightly hug her sister. Nevertheless, the camera continues spinning around the motionless sisters in an increasingly frantic matter, as frantic as Katniss is to hug her sister as if it were the last time (which it very well could be). SPOILERS BEGIN: My favorite shots are of the fallen capital, isolated and covered in snow (beautiful, yet eerie). The climactic scene where Katniss enters to execute Snow is beautifully complemented by the camera angles and long pan. SPOILERS END For those upset by Part 1’s lack of action, Part 2 will hopefully suffice those restless viewers. The journey to Snow’s palace is a harsh and deadly one filled with multiple conflicts, including a pretty epic scene where Katniss’ squad face off against lizard-like Mutts in the sewers. The squad are mercilessly attacked and gradually picked off by Snow, who uses every trick and tactic to end this final game. Speaking of Snow, what a great antagonist!
Looking at the other YA series (for the sake of comparison, I’ll reconsider The Hunger Games a YA series), I realize a common flaw for them is their lack of a great villain. The Divergent Series has, well had Kate Winslet as its antagonist—a one-dimension villain whose “evil for the greater good” and is killed before the series has even concluded. The Maze Runner has…some lady whose “evil for the greater good” (noticing a similar pattern here), and despite all the love I have for the Harry Potter series, Voldemort (post-Tom Riddle) is nothing more than straight-evil incarnate—and don’t get me started on how awkward Ray Fiennes makes him in the Deathly Hollows. President Snow, combined with the wonderfully talented Donald Sutherland, is the first young adult villain I thoroughly enjoyed—he may, in fact, be in my top five favorite characters from the series.
The man is so charismatic, suave, and deviously sadistic. He’s a ruthless dictator, yet a true gentleman with a knack for black humor (correcting a televised berating from Coin when she reiterates his words as “picking” Katniss rather than “plucked”—unmistakably the more dignified expression). Here in Mockingjay—Part 2, the overwhelming stress of losing his empire seems to be hitting hard. His age is finally showing, health rapidly deteriorating from an unknown illness—in one scene Snow is shown passed out on his desk, a napkin in hand containing small blood drops from a previous coughing fit. The man is dying whether his city falls or not, yet the thing that seemingly keeps him going is the rebellious teenager who started it all, but not for the reasons one might expect.
After all this time, after all his failed attempts to control, kill and demoralize Katniss, Snow seems to view her in an almost respectably entertaining light. She’s the one thing Snow can never predict, never stop—a final challenge the dying man appears to love, not as a game master, but as a participant. When it’s revealed Katniss is alive after another failed attempt to murder her, Snow’s low spirits bounce right up, a thrilled gleam in his eyes from seeing she survived another impossible obstacle. I must say his final scenes are up there with the finest villain demises—so unconventional, unpredictable, yet incredibly satisfying.
