The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Here we are, the final instalment of The Hunger Games franchise. After loving the books, I was majorly happy with the first two adaptations of the source material. The third I was not so happy with and you can read my review for Part 1 here. Now here's the second part of the third adaptation and although a it has a lot of similar problems, overall it is a good send off for the franchise. Read on below to find out my full verdict.

So by now you know the cast, the amazing Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, accompanied by Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and the best supporting cast from your favourite TV shows of the last five years. Seriously, there are so many familiar faces from the likes of Game of Thrones and House of Cards. In this film the rebellion is in full swing in an attempt to bring an end to the pain and suffering in the Districts.

Now lets start with the good, like the rest of the series, Mockingjay doesn't take a half hearted stab at the source material, instead it takes it seriously and creates a very faithful adaptation of the text unlike other Young Adult franchises such as Divergent, which is pretty much a paint by number YA film with no heart or effort put into making a 'good' film. The Hunger Games stands out because it feels like a film in which an effort has been made to make it more than just a Blockbuster, it's also a social commentary on the world we live in today. Plus the films have some amazing performances from all involved!

There are some brilliant scenes in this film and a lot of these are extremely terrifying and hard to watch at points. There is a sequence in this film that could rival most horror movies and made me wonder how this film didn't get more than a 12A rating. These scenes are well executed and the effects are top notch. We've come a long way from the crappy fire in the first film.

When this film ended I was surprised at how much it hit me that this franchise had ended. It was about four years ago I got hooked on the books and I remember being extremely excited for the first film, this excitement may have diminished in 2015 but I was left thinking how much I would miss those early days of the franchise. It packed a punch that's for sure. If the split of the final book hadn't happened and a third film was made using only the best parts of Part 1 and 2 then this could easily be one of the best trilogies of this millennium so far.

So now onto the bad. Like Part 1 there were scenes in this film that just dragged! It suffered from something I like to call The Walking Dead effect, where there are some great set pieces and then the characters just mope around and engage in un-engaging conversations about how they feel until the next great set piece. Some of the scenes were so slow that it felt like it was intentionally trying to justify the split... well it didn't work guys. But hey, now they have twice the money!

Another problem I had with the film was the lighting, it was so dark in places that I could hardly tell what was going on, which sucked because some of the visuals were great, just a little tough to make out at times.

There are few key scenes that are brushed over surprisingly quickly, scenes of a spoilerish nature but you'll probably understand what I mean if/when you have seen it.

Like I said at the start of the review, it's a good enough send off to one the best YA franchises around, I doubt we'll get anything aimed at teenagers with a similar amount of quality any time soon. Or at least not what I have seen from other YA franchises following in The Hunger Games shadow. But then again I'm not the audience anymore, The Hunger Games got me in my final teenage years and I loved it and I am now sad it's gone, well until the announcement of the prequels or some other way to drain the life out of a decent film franchise! I am giving Mockingjay Part 2 a rating of 3.5/5.

What did you think of Mockingjay Part 2? Better than Part 1? Better than Catching Fire? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

The Hunger Games & a hangover!

So this is now my second posting and this time I will go straight into things with a look at the recent Hunger Games trailer and my view on The Hangover Part 2.

So first of all The Hunger Games trailer, now I am a big fan of the books and think if they are made correctly on the big screen they could be awesome, and be the answer to our post Potter blues. Now we were giver a tiny teaser trailer a couple of months ago but lets face it, for people who don't know anything about the film it was pretty crap. So when I heard there was going to be a full one released I was quickly live streaming Good Morning America on my laptop to see it. And what a good morning it was! Well afternoon for me living in the UK. I loved the trailer and that is a good thing, because there is a massive chance that they could have made this film a Twilight film. And we don't need anymore of those! But thankfully first impressions show that the studio haven't butchered the books and look set for making the next big teen franchise. Now the film is set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest match. Now the books were amazing and actually some of the best I've read and even though it is teenage fiction there are many underlying adult themes such as capitalism and poverty and this really does make it a very powerful series of books. The trailer looks at the vents before the games so thankfully it doesn't give too much away but gives enough away to make me scream 'YES THAT LOOKS FREAKIN AWESOME!' And trust me, I really am happy at what it looks like so far! The only thing I was a bit disappointed in not seeing was whether the violence was watered down too much within the games, because this is film where kids fight each other to the death. And obviously the institution don't want to cut out there target audience and make it a 15. So I'm just hoping that with seemingly less strict rules on what children should be allowed to see will allow some of the gritty violence in the book to be portrayed on screen. I do however like the casting very much, most importantly Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss because she really is superb actress. Not to sure about Liam Hemsworth but that's only down to his previous movies, because he might actually be awesome in the role, just like his big bro as Thor! Also director Gary Ross has a pretty good film history with Pleasantville and Big so hopefully the film should be amazing. But why don't you take a look for yourself and tell me what you think! The trailer actually gave me goosebumps so I think that's a sign of greatness!

Now onto my review of The Hangover Part 2. Now before I start I must say I really really loved the first film, because it was something different, unexpected and best of all very, very funny! So I though could they really make an awesome sequel to what looked like a stand alone film? And my answer is...no. Set two years after the bachelor party in Las Vegas, Phil, Stu, Alan, and Doug jet to Thailand for Stu's wedding. Stu's plan for a subdued pre-wedding brunch, however, goes seriously awry. 

The great thing about the first was that it was unpredictable and audiences were on the edges of their seats throughout. With the second it looks as if they copy and pasted the winning formula of the first and tweaked stuff around to say it was 'original'. And it didn't work, everything was predictable and some of it really wasn't that funny. I mean some bits were great especially the character of Stu played by the brilliant Ed Helms but apart from that, the rest was a bit boring. Now apparently they are going to make a third (that's Hollywood for ya!) and if rumours are to be true the gang may be off to Berlin, which could be a laugh as long as the scriptwriters don't just copy and paste again!

Anyway, if your reading this thanks a lot. Please tell your friends about my blog, it would be nice to have some followers! But  until next time please comment bellow!

Alex