CAST:Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Willow Shields, Sam Clafin
DIRECTION:Francis Lawrence
GENRE:Action
DURATION:2 hours 17 minutes
STORY:The stage is set for a confrontation between rebel factions from the various districts, rallied together by Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) and forces in the Capitol, ruled by President Snow (Sutherland).
REVIEW: What immediately makes this film more exciting than the previous installments in this series is that there's a lot of action, a few scares too, and plenty of thrills to keep fans of this franchise well entertained. The only downside though, is an overly-protracted ending, which is reminiscent of how long the ending of the final Lord of the Rings movie was.
It opens with a shot of Katniss being treated for her damaged throat. She tries to regain her voice. It's a telling shot, as it also symbolizes her conflicted emotions about being the symbol and the voice, so to speak, of the rebellion. She's weary of war and understandably scared of Peeta (Hutcherson) who had tried to kill her. Nonetheless, she loves him but hates how Snow has psychologically damaged Peeta. For her, the fight against Snow is therefore, personal. Katniss wants to be on the frontlines but the wily and media-savvy Alma Coin (Moore) wants to keep Katniss far away from the war to serve her own ulterior motives; Katniss is too important to be injured, killed or captured by Snow. The Mockingjay is more valuable to Coin alive rather than dead. Soon enough, Katniss becomes somewhat cynical about Coin's motives.
Director Lawrence also gives the other characters a greater sense of development with the result that the movie doesn't come across as a Jennifer Lawrence Glorification Vehicle. Hutcherson puts in a very nuanced performance as Peeta and Sutherland is brilliant as Snow. One of the highlights is a amazingly-shot subterranean scene in which Katniss and the squad take on relentless waves of crazed (think the beasts you would have seen in I Am Legend) creatures. It's something you might find in a horror film. In fact, Jo Willems' camerawork - especially the scenes in the Capitol - is by itself a highlight of the film. A fitting cap to the series.
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