Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is recovering
from the attack by
a brainwashed Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who tried to kill her after he was
rescued from the Capitol. She makes it
her mission to be the one to kill President Snow (Donald Sutherland) by getting
closer to the war zone, but she soon realizes she is a political pawn in
President Coin’s bid for power.
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2 wraps up
the series in
proper fashion and is a good conclusion to Part 1 even though the ending runs
one or two scenes too long (real or not real) and I wish they changed the fate
of one character from the book. The
impact of the war on Panem is visible with the Capitol looking like Berlin
under siege just with some deadly traps (fyi- part of MOCKINGJAY was filmed in Berlin).
You see the revolution against president Snow
is about moves and counter moves. The
traps make Katniss and her group’s journey to Snow’s mansion is very much like
The Hunger Games. They are able to work
around the absence of Philip Seymour Hoffman with great ease since there were
only two more Plutarch scenes left to film (due to the actor’s untimely death
during his break from production).
I will miss the series as these four films chronicle
a
journey for Katniss as she develops from a teenage girl trying to fend for her
family to a woman who never wanted to be the face of a revolution against
tyranny. The only other flaw of the
series is I never liked the character of Peeta whether I liked the performance
of Josh Hutcherson or not. The casting
of great genre actors in supporting roles is a good spot the actor game like
Michelle Forbes and Gwendoline Christie showing up in roles for this final
installment. It is recommended to watch
Part 1 back to back with Part 2 (I watched MOCKINGJAY Part 1 again on the day I
saw Part 2.) I do think a rewatch of the
entire series is in store for me when THE HUNGE RGAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2 comes
out on blu-ray next spring. The whole
series of THE HUNGER GAMES has great social and political commentary buried
under the surface of the story and characters along with some hidden lessons
about history. Fans of the series will
like this movie.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
PAWNS NO MORE: MAKING OF THE HUNGER GAMES- MOCKINGJAY
PART 2
(blu-ray)- it is a very detailed over two hour making-of documentary on all
aspects of the production with behind-the-scenes footage, footage from the
movie, and interviews with cast and crew.
WALKING THROUGH FIRE:
CONCLUDING THE SAGA-
REAL OR NOR
REAL: VISUAL DESIGN-
HIGH VALUE TARGETS: THE ACTING ENSEMBLE-
FROM HEAD TO TOE: COSTUME, MAKE-UP & HAIR-
NAVIGATING THE MINEFIELD: PRODUCTION IN ATLANTA,
PARIS, & BERLIN-
COLLATERAL DAMAGE: STUNTS, SPECIAL EFFECTS &
WEAPONS-
TIGHTENING THE NOOSE: THE POST-PRODUCTION PROCESS-
A DIFFERENT WORLD: REFLECTIONS-
THE HUNGER GAMES: A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY-
CINNA’S SKETCHBOOK: SECRETS OF THE MOCKINGJAY
ARMOR-
PANEM ON DISPLAY: THE HUNGER GAMES: THE EXHIBITION-
JET TO THE SET (blu-ray)-
an episode of a series that takes the viewers to locations of the movie and
various Atlanta hotspots (for
fashion and food) along with interviews with members of the cast and crew of
MOCKINGJAY PART 2 (and one actress from ALLEGIANT)
Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence
and Producer
Nina Jacobson
The DVD has most of the
above extras except of a couple which were just on the blu-ray along with the
movie in standard definition.
The Target bonus disc has about 45 minutes of
featurettes
which has additional interviews with cast and crew along with a couple of
featurettes that go into more behind-the-scenes detail than the same things
covered in the making-of documentary:
WELCOME TO THE 76TH HUNGER GAMES: ON LOCATION IN
ATLANTA, PARIS & BERLIN (13:56)-
This featurette has some additional cast and crew interviews, but the
NAVIGATING THE MINEFIELD part of the documentary covers the production on
location in more detail
GOING ROGUE: THE CAST (8:31)-
interviews with supporting members of the cast
BECOMING TIGRIS (11:21)- go behind-the-scenes
of creating
the look of Tigris with special effects make-up artists Glen Hetrick and Ve
Neil along with other interviews including the actress who plays Tigris
UNDERGROUND TERROR: BATTLING THE LIZARD MUTTS
(12:35)- a detailed behind-the-scenes look at
how they put together the sewer tunnel sequence from previs to production to
post-production
FINAL ANALYSIS:
Lionsgate has presented a great blu-ray package for the final film in
THE HUNGER GAMES saga, but I wish they didn’t split off the four featurettes to
be a Target exclusive for MOCKINGJAY Part 2.
This review is ©4-4-2016
David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments
to feedback@enterline-media.com
Like Enterline Media on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb
