Movie Review – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

In September 2008 I read The Hunger Games for a book club. It had just come out and I had recently turned 15. From the first page I was hooked and I instantly felt a connection to Katniss (as I’m sure many did). In my head, she was biracial. I thought her to be half Caucasian and half Native or Latina. Perhaps it is because I am biracial but regardless, representation matters and I was psyched to finally have a character that was of mixed race like myself. The other connection I had was that I have one sibling, a sister who was at the time, the same age as Prim. I would die for my sister, fight for her, and will protect her always so I completely understood Katniss’s infamous “I volunteer as tribute!” moment.
Fast forward three years when I was still a mega fan. I had been following the film production like never before. I received a phone notification of who they cast in the main roles in March of 2011. Was I disappointed that Katniss was completely Caucasian? Yes. I was definitely bummed but I knew of Jennifer Lawrence via Winter’s Bone and had faith that she could bring my favorite character to life.
I was such a mega fan that I entered a competition and got to interview the cast of The Hunger Games via the Wendy Williams talk show. I’ve done many a school reports on this series and gone in to great detail as to how it shaped me as a person during my formative years (15-17). This story will always be close to my heart as it taught me that one person can truly change the world.

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A wonderful sendoff to an impactful series, Mockingjay – Part 2 plays out faithfully to the novel. I enjoyed everything about this film in the series and I believe that fans will feel closure as they watch their favorite bow and arrow yielding heroine take on the Capitol one last time.
If you read the novel then you know a lot of things transpire in those last 100 or so pages, of which the film knocked out of the park in bringing to life. Josh Hutcherson was as fantastic as the PTSD stricken (as well as victim of Capitol mind torment). Liam Hemsworth showcased Gale Hawthorne’s gun ho beliefs very well, a character of whom I felt aligned with most of my ideology up until the very end. Then of course there was “The Girl on Fire”, played by Ms. Jennifer Lawrence. If you know anything of the novel then you know that Mockingjay was often times painful to read because we as the reader were stuck in her grief stricken mind set which is understandable but a mightily unfortunate perspective to read from. Luckily in the film we were not restricted to only Katniss’s view of things and could clearly see how things were playing out.
The special effects were well done and I liked the pace of the film, rarely having slow moments. As a fan, it was difficult to say goodbye to who I’ve come to think of as friends but things I strongly disliked about the book translated exceptionally well to film and they may just be because of the masterful Francis Lawrence, the extraordinary director that he is. The adaption itself cut out all the unnecessary parts and got straight to the core and that’s all a fan girl can ask for. I would absolutely see this movie again and it may proud of the cast and crew alike. This story began with a 16 year old girl who stood up for her sister and ends with a revolution and en entire nation revisiting how everything is run. The irony in a possible The Hunger Games theme park and THG makeup line should be lost on no one, we as a consumer market probably do owe it to the message of the film (which has been lost amongst product sales and advertisements) to revisit some our own principles. At the end of the day, the joke is on us as we are the Capitol; now all we need is a revolution to wake us from our comfortable stupor. We have more parallels between our world and the books than we care to admit.
The takeaway message from these stories are something I take very seriously, one that I believe awoke my inner activist and made me see my own world in a new light. That’s the power of a book and I am forever thankful for this series, even if I didn’t like the last novel and perhaps the writing is no Tolkien but you can’t deny its impact on many and at the end of the day, that’s all I can ask for in a series.