Directed by:
Francis LawrenceCinematography:
Jo WillemsComposer:
James Newton HowardCast:
Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
Jennifer Lawrence reprises her role as Katniss Everdeen in the fourth and final instalment of the sci-fi film series based on the novels by Suzanne Collins. With Katniss as their leader, the citizens of Panem unite in battle against the Capitol in an attempt to bring down the autocratic President Snow (Donald Sutherland) once and for all. Supported by her friends, including Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Katniss faces her biggest challenge yet, fighting not only for her life but for the future of her world. The cast also features Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final film role. (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
(more)Videos (19)
Reviews (11)
The Hunger Games has become another victim of the recently increasingly popular production strategy of splitting the final part into two episodes, hurting the final form of each of the films. Separately, the films look very disjointed, which is understandable. The last part of the book series was definitely not so dense to warrant two full feature films, and this is evident in the too many dead spots and unnecessarily drawn-out scenes (especially at the end). The second part in film form is basically just a murderous walk between the traps in the Capitol and the constant tension between Katniss, Peeta and Gale, but it quickly gets tiresome and by the end it gets quite boring. All in all, a decent and very average farewell to the Hunger Games series, which should have been better ended with one longer film, but what can I say, money talks.
()
A worthy ending. It doesn't make it into the cinematic benchmarks due to its relative emotional flatness, incompleteness and fairytale-ness (ironically, Lord of the Rings is exactly the opposite), but the filmmaking is top-notch and Katniss Everdeen is the driving force behind the whole project, even if the long glances are often unnecessary and the impassioned dialogue isn't exactly heartfelt. Even though I hadn’t read the book, I guessed the finale a good halfway through the film, but it plays to a clearly written plot from the start, where nothing is meant to be a coincidence and everything is clearly working towards a goal. It's not about the element of surprise, it's about liking this fictional world and the characters in it, and childishly rooting for the rebels against the tyrant. Visually, of course, it's appropriately fluffy and it pretty much feels like a war movie with the backdrop of a destroyed Yugoslavia, but whatever. There's not much going on anyway, and the two great scenes (the oil, the sound of drops in the canal) are great to enjoy in the cinema.
()
It can be seen that the film was very expensive and narrative-based, the music is dynamically thundering, the actors are trying, the directing is skilled, etc. However, none of this can obscure the fact that from the point of view of the story, there is simply almost nothing interesting going on in the film, whilst what could have been interesting is pointlessly truncated to a minimum. After the previous, worn-out work, I was looking forward to the announced civil war and the grand finale, but I did not get to see anything like that, and instead I was served another load of the same boredom. Most of the film has a rather sluggish pace and suffers from shallow dialogues that more or less repeat the same thing that has been said before. There are only two more decent action scenes in 135 minutes, and we get to see only a short fraction of the most important of them - the attack of the insurgents on the Capitol.
()
I got exactly what I’d wanted to get from the last installment of Hunger Games. And you can add to it the fact that it’s most likely the roughest episode. I felt almost sorry that the entire story is meant for teenagers, so I wouldn’t get to see torn-up bodies or guts spilled all over the battlefield. This installment was literally asking for it. But I must admit that it’s pretty much made up for by the ending. Nevertheless, same as with all the previous installments, this one also has a problem with length, meaning mainly the first twenty minutes. During those I got to experience once again how easily twenty minutes can turn into a really long time. These twenty minutes loaded with facts are followed by the last Hunger Game and with it a succession of thrilling scenes that I really enjoyed. So, in conclusion, I’d like to add that within these young adult stories, Hunger Games is the best. Great soundtrack, amazing actors and if some of the parts weren’t so pointlessly long, I would have no problem giving it a five-star review.
()
The last installment of the series is slightly better than the previous journey into the world of Panem simply because it is less talkative and manages to show action and throw in some attractions in the form of mutant attacks or clever traps for the rebel team throughout its long duration. Unfortunately, it is also the most convincing evidence of how poorly the world is designed and how (un)functional it actually is. Nothing really makes sense in the film. In the third installment, the ruling regime is in control and capable of delivering devastating blows to the rebels, so we quickly reach the "battle for Berlin" phase, the final agony, where regime supporters collapse one after another, without it being clear how this miraculous turnaround happened. Pro-regime forces lose energy and the remaining resources on nonsensically over-engineered traps intended for television cameras at a time when it no longer makes even the slightest sense. With a switched-off brain and a fondness for Jennifer Lawrence, however, Mockingjay can be tolerated. Overall impression: 40%.
()
Ads