By Megan Bianco
The popular franchise that propelled Jennifer Lawrence to superstardom now comes to an end after four years. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games book trilogy has yielded four film adaptations starring Lawrence as anti-heroine Katniss Everdeen, a character that made archery cool again and set forth a new wave of girl power for young audiences. After the success of the first two movies, and the underwhelming Mockingjay, Part 1, does Part 2 end on a high note?
Following Part 1, all hell breaks loose with Katniss (Lawrence) set on assassinating President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in retaliation for the fatalities he’s caused and for brainwashing her beau Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) into hating her. On her team are close friends Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Finnick (Sam Claflin), Cressida (Natalie Dormer) and Pollux (Elden Henson). President Coin (Julianne Moore) initially supports Katniss’ efforts to defeat Snow and then with the promise of her own power becomes corrupt—an even more immediate threat.
Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks and Philip Seymour Hoffman reappear as Katniss’ mentors. Mockingjay is considered by fans the weakest of the three books, so one would hope the movie(s) would be an improvement. Not exactly. While Part 1 felt like a filler television episode, Part 2 is disappointing as nothing much happens, leaving the end result an uneventful and unsatisfying conclusion following so much built-up drama and action. Part 2 also confirms that splitting the last book into two films was unnecessary. Though there is a pretty stressful, eye-opening sewer sequence in Pt. 2, Catching Fire remains the best of the series. Lawrence has always been memorable as Katniss, but the actress and character deserved a better send off.
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