Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a screening of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this movie forever!
I like to joke with my students that I’m a Hunger Games hipster… I read The Hunger Games back in 2008, the month it came out. I immediately fell in love and ordered copies for our classes to use, as well as more library copies. The first book I ever reviewed on my blog was Catching Fire. And when Mockingjay came out? Well, that was one of the books that really kicked off my blogging regularly. We have The Hunger Games posters all over the library as well as a cardboard cut-out of Katniss. I even have bookmarks, buttons, and temporary tattoos I’ve been saving since the books came out to giveaway to students when this movie finally came out.
So, yeah. I have been waiting for this final movie for years but at the same time I can’t believe it’s over! Since I was lucky enough to see it a few days early, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts about Mockingjay Part 2. If you’re interested you can see my Mockingjay Part 1 thoughts.
First things first, shout out to my coworker and friend Brianne for geeking out and seeing it with me! Yes, we totally wore our matching Mockingjay shirts.
Okay. On to the movie thoughts. I did not re-watch Mockingjay Part 1 before seeing this one. It took me about 5 seconds to remember where Part 1 left off, so it wasn’t an issue. The beginning of the movie did a good job of reminding me where we left off without dragging it out. I appreciated that.
If I had to pick one word to describe The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 it’d be intense! I spent a number of sceens with my eyes closed or looking away (I am such a baby!) We’re picking up in the middle of the Mockingjay book and things are happening at a fast pace. Since I read the book I knew what was coming and thought I’d react a certain way. I was still surprised by some things. Some of the events I thought I would be agonizing over happened so quickly and then the story moved on… I didn’t feel like I really processed them. I wasn’t as affected as I thought I’d be. But then, oh but then, it all caught up with me at the end. After it was all said and done I was holding back tears I thought I would have shed earlier. The more I thought about this the more it made sense to me. Katniss and company are just trying to survive and take down the enemy. There isn’t a lot of time to process anything until the dust settles. And then it hits you. My heart hurts remembering it now.
One of my favorite things about this movie and Mockingjay Part 1 is the way humor is used. These characters are in a serious situation. There is nothing funny about it. The movies could easily become overwhelmingly depressing, Thank goodness for Haymitch, Effie, and Katniss’ snarky one liners! They relieve some of the tension and get the audience laughing. It’s good to see the characters finding a way to smile through everything.
So, yeah. I enjoyed this one but it was kind of hard to watch. Part of it was knowing it was the end, part of it was knowing what was coming, and part of it was the pacing of the movie. I’m really glad I read the books so I had more background for some of the scenes. I’ll certainly be buying it to complete my collection and I recommend seeing it if you’ve seen the others!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Yay!! I’m glad you loved it. I really wanted to go see it too, but Tuesday is the ONE day of the week I couldn’t make it out there in time to actually get a seat. Can’t wait to see it!!