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The Daily Utah Chronicle

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The Daily Utah Chronicle

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“Mockingjay Part 2” Has Intensity, Suspense but Struggles as a Finale

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The end has come. Peeta has become a Captiol puppet, Districts are dying out and the Mockingjay symbol has become more potent than ever. Reaching her breaking point, Katniss Everdeen is determined to take down the main cause of destruction: President Snow. She teams up with her accomplices from previous “Hunger Games” installments and takes off to the booby-trap infested Capitol. However, as she risks her life as well as others’, she questions whether it was all really worth it.

The third book of The Hunger Games trilogy is short and anticlimactic in itself, so to make it into two movies presented a major challenge for filmmakers. “Mockingjay Part 2” was supposed to be an action-packed film, but it lacked substance. Every time something exciting happened, the aftermath let it back down. This left the audience hyped up but then immediately disappointed. This is not necessarily the film’s fault. Due to a demand for a finale for the Hunger Games book trilogy back in 2010, the book itself was already too rushed to have a decent plot.

Still, “Mockingjay Part 2” had some decent suspenseful scenes, including the underground lizard mutts. Easily the best part of the entire film, this scene elicited terror for the characters and the audience. It adequately mirrored the horror and distress of the book. Unfortunately, the lighting made it hard to see the action. True, this added to the suspense, but it was also very frustrating. It brought back memories of the disappointing final scene of the first “Hunger Games” film, when much of the action was lost due to poor lighting choices and too much camera movement.

“Mockingjay Part 2” was dreary and sad. That’s understandable. But that didn’t mean the entire color scheme of the film needed to be gray. Even when there was fire, the picture was gray. This may have been due to a choice in lighting, maybe costuming and probably set design, but since the beginning of the film, the overall picture lacked color.

Dating back to the first “Hunger Games” film, the acting remained dry in “Mockingjay Part 2.” While the talent was certainly there, the actual acting was sub-par. There could have been a better choice in casting for some roles, but it was much too late for that. The actors almost seemed tired or bored with their characters. It felt like they, as well as the audience, were ready for this trilogy to be over.

Julianne Moore made a risky choice in voice for her character, President Coin. She made her voice slower and deeper and overenunciated each word. Moore was trying to portray a proud woman confident in leading a revolution. But by changing her voice, her parts became very hard to listen to.

As for Katniss, Jennifer Lawrence had both hits and misses with this character. There were times when she acted in a scene, and it was Katniss. But other times she failed to express more than one emotion. This showed more in “Mockingjay Part 2,” than in some of the other movies, and while she was portraying a character under severe stress, it would have been nice to see a little more variation.

For “Hunger Games” fans, it’s worth a watch for closure, if nothing else. Others could see it at a later time, maybe in Redbox or when die-hard “Hunger Games” fans buy it, and be just fine.

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