The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Review

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(This review covers both parts of the Mockingjay film adaptation. It does contain spoilers)

The Hunger Games series proves that the book isn’t always better. By removing all of the inner-monologues and allowing Jennifer Lawrence to imbue Katniss with a sense of gravity and maturity that her written character lacks, the films present a more consistent portrayal of their world. As they continue, they become more confident in changing details and expanding on the universe. While Catching Fire gives us some glimpses behind the curtains to see what the Capitol is up to, Mockingjay Part 1 benefits the most from this change-of-perspective.

Mockingjay was by far my least favorite of the books. If I were to choose one reason, it’s that it’s a story about a wide-scale conflict told entirely from the perspective of a character who is not especially involved. Because Katniss is relegated to creating propaganda for the war and rarely in the field actually fighting, most of the successes and failures of the war effort are relayed to her by other characters, bypassing the most significant drama of the series. Instead, we’re left with Katniss constantly mulling over her feelings for Gale and Peeta while the actual culmination of the series occurs off-page.

Mockingjay Part 1 manages to keep the story intact, but makes it far more powerful by allowing us to see the wide-scale chaos that has resulted from the events of Catching Fire. More importantly, the film is edited so that we can see the repercussions of Katniss’ propaganda work first-hand. She doesn’t necessarily do much in the film that she doesn’t do in the book, but while her actions on the page feel like blasting messages out into the ether, the film portrays her messages being received loud and clear. People are giving their lives attacking Capitol buildings, and the whole story has a lot more weight.

Also, I briefly stated it above, but it bears repeating: Jennifer Lawrence is a huge part of the reason why these films are successful. In addition to her ability to signify hidden complexities in a look or expression, she’s simply charismatic. With a less magnetic performer, Mockingjay’s constant insistence on her symbolic importance to the war would seem overblown or ridiculous. Instead, we can see it, too.

Mockingjay Part 2 is less successful than Part 1, but largely because of my second major complaint about the book: it simply does not end well. Once Katniss and her team try to sneak into the Capitol (admittedly the best segment of the book, and one that is well-portrayed here), the story becomes a series of anti-climaxes. They spend the better part of the second film working their way to President Snow’s mansion…then the rebels just attack and get there anyway. Prim dies (yet another character whose death only apparently “means something” if Snow dies), but it’s all in service of appointing yet another comically-evil (seriously, ANOTHER Hunger Games?!) dictator-in-all-but-name with President Coin. Then Katniss kills Coin instead of Snow, goes away, and lives quietly with Peeta and their family.

It’s not that anti-climax can’t work, and you could easily argue that it’s sort of the point with the Hunger Games stories. They paint a depressing portrait of the world, insinuating that those in power will always abuse it, and those who seek to overthrow the corrupt only replace them in their cruelty. But the story tries to have it both ways by insinuating that, with Coin dead, her replacement will be a perfectly decent leader. We’re shown that, in this endless cycle of violent class struggle, all Katniss has to do to save the day is shoot yet another person in the heart. That feels dishonest and cheap.

So does the very end, in which we see Katniss and Peeta with their new family. Like the epilogue of Harry Potter, it feels hoaky and unnecessary. The story would be better served by ending with Katniss crawling into Peeta’s bed, finally making a conscious effort toward recovery. Instead, we get their happy little family, with Katniss telling her newborn baby about a game based around identifying positive aspects in life. It’s a brief feint toward positivity in a story with no real room for it. Katniss follows it up with a dead stare directly into the camera. Perhaps even she doesn’t buy her own ending.

1 thought on “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Review

  1. Great review…especially the last line. Actually I give the whole series credit for keeping it dark and perhaps less than happy ending / future. I think the major theme was said well by Bob Dylan…”don’t follow leaders, watch your parking meters”…

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