Gire: Lawrence brings 'Games' to a graceful end
Long.
Convoluted.
Ridiculous. Pretentious. Frustrating.
Yet, curiously satisfying.
This is how "The Hunger Games" film franchise ends, not with a bang or a whimper, but with a speech to a burbling infant about the nature of nightmares.
"Mockingjay - Part 2," adapted from Suzanne Collins' third and final "Hunger Games" book, presents a dark and cynical world that embraces assassination not only as an acceptable but also a preferred form of political expediency. (Actually, "Part 2" is so dark in some scenes, you can barely tell what's happening.)
I have not read Collins' final book, but I suspect that screenwriters Peter Craig and Danny Strong (plus Collins) wanted to be faithful to their source material far more than they wanted to create an excellent movie based on it.
So, "Part 2" meanders through a series of uninspired action vignettes, killing off key characters while setting up the inescapable showdown between rebel leader Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Panem's ruthless President Snow (Donald Sutherland).
To its credit, "Part 2" dispenses with recapping the last movie and leaps right into the narrative fray, taking up minutes after "Part 1" ends with Katniss being attacked by her Capitol-brainwashed BF and Hunger Games partner Peeta (Josh Hutcherson).
He still wants to kill Katniss, so her inner circle keeps him in handcuffs while she works on deprogramming him back to the Peeta she loves.
Katniss remains loyal to rebel President Coin (Julianne Moore), who, along with her trusted political adviser Plutarch (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final film role), push the archer to become the figurehead for the rebellion.
But Katniss' overriding goal now is to kill Snow herself.
She sets out for the Capitol with her band of fellow rebels, including quasi-boyfriend Gale (Liam Hemsworth), kid sister Prim (Willow Shields), Finnick (Sam Claflin), Johanna (Jena Malone), Cressida (Natalie Dormer) and others.
They have more to worry about than Snow's deadly "peacekeepers." Snow has scattered hundreds of booby traps called "pods" all around the outskirts of the Capitol.
These deadly traps include flame throwers and machine guns, and one in which the rebels must outrun 100 zillion gallons of boiling black oil cascading toward them in a sealed-off part of town.
Those who don't know the story of "Mockingjay" will be surprised by Collins' shrewdly calculated plot twists and her idyllic view of democracy in the wake of the base human drive for power.
We've been following the adventures of this rural girl who grew up to become an icon of freedom for three years, and "Part 2" succeeds in bringing her glorious arc to a gratifying, graceful close.
Lionsgate Films lucked out with the casting of the effervescent, multitalented Lawrence, whose portrait of the "Girl on Fire" has been the crucial linchpin in the four "Hunger Games" movies.
No matter how bogged down the plots become, how thin the characters get (Stanley Tucci and Elizabeth Banks are barely walk-ons here as Caesar and Effie; Woody Harrelson's Haymitch feels sandwiched into scenes), Lawrence's charisma, emotional vulnerability and steel core provide all the reason we need to stay invested in Katniss Everdeen's struggles.
Lawrence can't fix the shortcomings of "Mockingjay - Part 2."
But she sure can minimize them.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2”
★ ★ ½
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Other: A Lionsgate Films release. Rated PG-13 for violence. 136 minutes