Movie of the Week: The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 finally opened this week here in Spain – yes people, we are ALWAYS behind on movie’s premieres… it sucks! Anyway, it opened on Friday, so I was obviously there.

I really liked the movie, it’s a stellar adaptation from the source material. These 3 books might just be the best adaptations from book to screen ever. The movie does a great job telling the last part of the story, still showing all that goes on behind the action, and how Katniss and her team are still nothing more than a piece in the game of President Snow vs. President Coin.

The action was on point, there are some true horrific moments that will make you gasp if you haven’t read the books. Heck, I read the books, and when these moments and deaths came, I still gasped and cried like a baby. It’s such a sad movie… Oh Finnick… 😦

The only thing I wish that they had included in the adaptation was Johanna and Katniss bonding and becoming friends. The movie does very little to humanize Johanna and she comes off as a b***h sometimes, while in the book we see her struggles firsthand. Hers and Katniss’ training is important, but I do get why they had cut that.

The acting is truly stellar here! Jennifer Lawrence is perfect as always, but Josh Hutcherson is brilliant as Peeta, he looks so broken most of the time =/ that it’s unbearably sad 😦 . But Elizabeth Banks is still my favorite! She has a scene towards the end, when she’s saying goodbye to Katniss and Haymitch that just broke my heart with a single expression from her.

The ending is bittersweet, and while I admire that they included the epilogue in the movie, and almost wish that they didn’t. The epilogue in the book is all Katniss inner monologue and they translated that to her talking to a baby, and while it’s well done, I almost wish that the movie would have ended in the mythic “real”.

And finally, I’m so glad that my theory about Haymitch and Effie came true!

So people, have you watched this movie yet? Did you cry (oh, please, tell me I wasn’t the only one…)? What did you think of it?

Movie of the Week: The Hunger Games – Mockingjay pt1

The wait is over: The Hunger Games – Mockingjay part 1 has finally arrived. This is a movie very different from its two predecessors, Katniss is a shell of the young woman she once was, she’s a survivor suffering from PTSD, in a strange place and being expected to be much more than she’s able to at the moment.

I read the book, so I was expecting little action a lot of emotions and I got that, with a bit more action than I thought. This is about politics and the consequences of a rebellion and a war – countless loss, doubt and uncertainty. Katniss struggles at every step to make the right decision that will keep those she loves alive, knowing that she will probably fail someone along the way and not knowing how to live with it.

Granted, the “stillness” of this first movie will make a lot more sense a year from now, when the second part comes out, because the next movie is all about the repercussions of the actions of Katniss, President Coin and President Snow.

It’s a marvelous adaptation, there’re very few differences from book to screen. The biggest one being the presence of Effie in District 13, but can we really complain about it? No, not really! In the book the prep team, Flavius, Venia and Octavia are at D13 and they are the ones who make Katniss camera ready. But visually it makes a lot more sense to have a heavy weight such as Elizabeth Banks (and fan favourite Effie) on screen. So out goes the prep team and in comes lovely Effie, in all her gray glory – she owns every single second she’s on screen.

Other “difference” is that given that the book is from Katniss POV, in the movie we get to see what’s going on in the other Districts as well as in the Capitol. Peeta’s deterioration throughout the movie (and Katniss’s along with his) are so well done, I found myself in tears each time Peeta was on screen…

Every single actor in the movie is brilliant – when you have a movie that has to work based on emotions shown rather than action, and with such a big cast, it could be tricky, but they hold up (Prim, maybe not so much). Jennifer Lawrence is amazing as always, the range of emotions that this girl is able to convey is tremendous. And how cool is the hair and makeup department on this movie?! They actually made them look bland, and made Katniss actually look 17!!!

Josh Hutcherson really surprised me in this movie… just wait for the last 10 minutes to get what I’m saying. Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch will always be my favourite, and did I catch a little flirting between Haymitch and Effie?! Maybe it would be a cool thing to change from the book… just saying…

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore are perfect in their roles as Plutarch and Coin, lovely touch to dedicate the movie to Hoffman.

I absolutely loved the filming crew. I loved them since the moment I read the book and Natalie Dormer just made Cressida come alive in a way only she could. But let’s not forget her 3 boys: Even Ross as Messalla, Elden Henson as Pollux that even though he doesn’t talk, he says a lot, and Wes Chatham as Castor.