So, the journey has now ended, and I am in a period of mourning because there will never be another Hunger Games movie to anticipate and enjoy.
Already it is clear that I am a fan. I found Suzanne Collins' books first, and engaged with the films as a consequence. Having read both the trilogy and watched the early movies many times over, I am very familiar with the storyline. And that's the problem. As I sat in the audience, I was aware that this movie was unlike any I had seen before. I could not disassociate its literary source, and was constantly watching through a filter of "'that's that bit', 'that's that bit', etc." I am not sure that I can review the film alone.
My first reaction is that the strength and the weaknesses of Collins' last book are apparent in her adaptation for this and the previous movie. As I feared, splitting the book across 2 movies for commercial gain has reinforced the fault lines as well as given Collins a chance to explore her themes more intensely.
By dealing with Katniss Everdeen's experiences beyond The Capitol in Mockingjay Part 1, Collins' adaptation provides space for the film to explore how war is a battle for hearts and minds, and the role that sound bites and other symbols have in this conflict. Broadcasting technology and public rallies have become part of the battlefield in this most modern of wars. MJ1 (if Jennifer Lawrence can refer to it thus, so can I) adds new takes to this theme that pervades her third novel. Whereas I can understand if others were not so as engaged as I by this issue and therefore found MJ1 disappointing, for me it only slightly lessened my admiration for MJ1 in comparison with its predecessor films 'The Hunger Games' and 'Catching Fire'.
Yet, her last novel of course moves towards the climax, an inevitable confrontation between the main protagonists. There is love interest to resolve. A war needs to be finished and lost/won. AND Collins wants to explore the moral dilemma of what behaviours are acceptable, right and ethically justified when overcoming an evil regime. Since these are the very many themes that book 3 explores, readers have struggled with the broader treatise on war; Collins' efforts to integrate each of these themes and retain the sense of the battlefield as a substitute Hunger Games venue arena is what has led to readers finding book 3 harder going. This translates also into the movie. I sensed too many scenes of exposition to enable characters to verbalise these themes. Like in the book, in MJ2 the Capitol never really feels as confined and claustrophobic as the arenas in which the action sequences of the first 2 movies are contained. Whereas the first 2 movies deal with the very personal survival of Katniss and Peeta, the broader themes of MJ2 dilutes our interest in their struggles.
That said, I do wonder if this is a deliberate tactic that Collins uses. Has she punctuated moments of exciting drama by extended scenes of discussion and inaction to represent Katniss' post traumatic stress disordered-condition? Katniss responds to her flight or fight reflex during the dramatic action sequences, but is dulled from emotion and frozen into inactivity by her PTSD at all others. The ebb and flow of the story directly reflects her internal condition, and the mental state of Peeta who is also subject to PTSD following the torture he has sustained. The dramatic structure simply reinforces Collins' message: look at the consequences of war - can this ever be justified? That the viewer may miss this is not helped by the MJ2 coda that fails to capture the subtleties of the end of Collins' book. At the end of 'Mockingjay', we read of a character slowly returning to life from the numbness they feel, gradually restoring previous relationships, and facing and living a normal life again.
There is still much to which I warmed. Again, Jennifer Lawrence proves that no one could improve on her interpretation of Katniss Everdeen. Josh Hutcherson's Peeta is perfectly pitched and a spot-on counterpoint to Liam Hemsworth's Gale.
I was fascinated by how Collins again maintained the spirit of her source material when adjusting the details to fit into a cinematic experience. There were times where she has again, like in MJ1, elided narrative and made explicit that which is implicit in her novel, and consequently highlighted the broader war themes of her writings (e.g. Katniss' final, voiced realisation that one of her life-long relationships cannot be sustained because of the painful memory forever attached to it; a leader's willingness to trample over democracy to fulfil their ultimate ambition; the repetition of past abhorrent practices because of a personal sense of loss and need for revenge; the eloquence and suitability for leadership of one of the more peripheral characters).
There were also marvellous moments of action, sometimes presented in ways that bettered my imagining of them. The Mutt battle scene (deliberately?) echoes the Quarter Quell confrontation with the vicious monkeys, fixing again on the heroics of our favourite lead characters. The consequences for a team-member of Peeta's post-traumatic stress disorder. As she supposedly sleeps but lies awake, the discussion within her hearing of Katniss' choices being more about survival than love. The repetition of 'Real or not real' to lay the foundation for the final coda. The grand Capitol finale and arrow outcome. Boggs' sense of justice and respect for Katniss. These are all brilliantly executed and more vivid than I pictured them on the page.
A mature 12A film, yes. But not as much on the edge of the certification as 'SPECTRE' and 'Casino Royale'. The movie unambiguously presents the consequences of torture without needing to show the moment of its application itself. Something from which you can learn Mr Bond.
Although MJ2 does not dwell in its coda so much as that of book 3 on the long-term impact of the pain, suffering and anguish that war brings, MJ2 still - for me - captures the essence of Collins' read in the dying scene of the franchise. I am not ashamed it made me cry.
I am all too aware as I write that I may revisit the film and, as I view it as a movie in its own right only, have a less enthusiastic response to it. With both the literary and cinematic experience of the series so close in my mind, I am finding it hard to entertain a wholly separate response to the film. "But there are much worse Games to play".