The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2

RATING: A-

"Make no mistake," President Snow smirks in one of the trailers in a line that didn't appear to make it in the final cut, "The game is coming to its end." 

Indeed. The rebellion from the Districts against the tyrannical Panem has come to its head, and they are ready to take the battle to the Capitol itself. Katniss Everdeen has been the face of the rebellion, but the cost of the war is continuing to take its toll on her. It's only gotten worse following the cliffhanger ending of Mockingjay Part 1, where it turned out that Peeta had been tortured and had his memories revised so that now he sees Katniss as the enemy, making him a threat. 

This only seems to further Katniss's attempts to get into the battle front lines, still wanting to be the one to kill Snow. She sneaks away on one of the hovercrafts and joins her comrades as they plan their assault on the Capitol (which has been rigged with loads of traps and monsters). However, it only gets worse when Peeta is unexpectedly brought along. For some reason. Now they have to sneak through what Gale calls the "76th Hunger Games," into Snow's mansion and kill him with a mentally unstable liability on their side. 

If Mockingjay Part 1 focused more on the "verbal war" more than anything, then Part 2 is the war itself; along with the sneaking missions straight out of video game lore. Things tend to move a little slowly at times during the first half, with all heck breaking loose occasionally. One sequence that comes to mind involves a tense fight with zombie-esque creatures that puts the weird, twitching zombies of Maze Runner: Scorch Trials to shame.  

Eventually, things to come to a final blast in a near-apocalyptic assault on the Capitol (with some stunning visual effects/camera work), and then the game comes to its end with many a cost (which I won't go into in case if you haven't read the books) in a movie/conclusion that calls into questions of ethics of war, its tactics, and the cost of it, leading up to a somewhat unsettling ending that while it ends the story, it doesn't necessarily end the vicious cycle for sure. 

If there's one glaring issue with this film, it's the fact that some parts feel more stretched out than they need to be. This may have to do with the fact that it's a 2-parter film, and overall they pulled it off okay. But let's keep in mind that Part 1 was about 123 minutes, while this one is 137. I wouldn't mind having a few minutes taking off--namely a ridiculous sequence when they spend *way* too long drawing out the tension that is to lead to a frantic action scene. 

But, overall, Mockingjay: Part 2 succeeds at being what the book was, and that is being a grim, unsettling and bittersweet ending to a long, multi-part cautionary tale. The Hunger Games "quad-rilogy" (if you will) has come to its end, leaving us with one of the better book-to-movie adaption series ever to show up. It's not for the faint of heart, but it's certainly a story worth the reading or watching.