The Hunger Games - Mockingjay (Part 2) (2015)

Okay, last time. Honestly, I liked this series a lot more than the other YA franchises like Twilight, Divergent, and The Maze Runner, but it's definitely time for it to go away. And, like the others, the third act is separated into two parts for no good reason. As a result, the third part (which is offered in two different movies) tends to be drawn out and has a LOT of quiet moments with no one talking or really doing anything. This one even had a Hobbit-style series of false endings and epilogues.

We join our hero, Jennifer Lawrence, as she once again is the emotional leader of the rebellion, and the rebellion is pretty much winning against the oppressive overlord Donald Sutherland and his really powerful and well-equipped army. How are they winning? No idea. Fact is, there is no way the economics of this world could possibly support one army, let alone two. Somehow, the District 13 that has had NO interaction with the rest of the world managed to build rockets, missiles, hovercraft, weapons, and complete underground bases to operate out of.

Once the suspension of disbelief is achieved, it is time to pay attention to what is going on. For starters, Jennifer's character hasn't really matured through these films. Instead, she is still impressively wishy-washy when it comes to making decisions and - when she does - she doesn't exactly plan ahead particularly well. I have literally no idea how she could have survived this long into the war.

So, the first two movies had actual Hunger Games, and this one doesn't... or does it? Well, the gauntlet of things that the group Jennifer is in has to go through are setup by the same guys who made the cute and strange traps in the games themselves. Yes, her group is supposed to be the mop-up group after waves and waves of rebel fighters have already gone through the area, but it seems like those fighters didn't actually trip any of the traps. For that matter, they didn't kill any of the bad guys. It's like they were never there.

The traps are interesting enough to watch, but their alien nature means that they aren't inclined to follow any particular rules that the audience can expect. We don't know if the people in the movie know more about this technology than we do, but they have to, or they are some seriously stupid people who just luck out all the time.

Peeta the PITA.

Josh Hutcherson's character of Peeta is in the movie again, and he's not nearly as bad in this movie. In fact, he gives a decent and subtle performance as the guy who is struggling while trying to overcome brainwashing by the evil guys. Liam Hemsworth probably has as big of a role in this movie as in any of the others, and he... doesn't make much of it. His character is bland and tiresome, and there's no effort to break out of that role.

Acting was good
Story was very drawn-out
Dialogue was weak
Action was good
Effects were good

Bottom Line: The best of the YA trilogies comes to an end with the worst movie of the bunch. Still better than most.

2.75