Well, I finally watched it and I don't really know what to think.
I mostly watched it just to see if Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) would pick Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) or Gale (Liam Hemsworth).
But first, to the main plot, overthrowing Snow (Donald Sutherland). Katniss is insistent on helping take him down despite Coin's (Julianne Moore's) chagrin. She sneaks out right after Finnick (Sam Claflin) and Annie's (Stef Dawson's) wedding thanks to the drug addicted Johanna (the always underused Jena Malone, biting into her role). Her mission is simple, to kill Snow. However, her crew with a cast of characters follows the main troops, as they are there for the sole purpose of being filmed by Cressida (Natalie Dormer). Then poor Boggs (Mahershala Ali), their leader is killed by one of the many booty traps laid down by the Capitol. His second in command, Jackson (Michelle Forbes), doesn't want Katniss to be in charge but that is how it is going to be. And the whole time, Peeta's mental condition is fragile as he was conditioned to be evil and hate Katniss at Snow's request so he comes and goes. Sometimes, he is firmly on the resistance while other times, he tries to kill Katniss but he does realize that when he is lucid. But his old memories are slowing coming back so he asks what is real and what isn't. They face challenge after challenge, with plenty of death along the way, including poor Finnick and then, the Capitol asks all the refugees to return and then bombs are dropped on them, killing poor Prim (Willow Shields) and nearly killing Katniss, when she was so close to killing Snow. But just like that, everything is over. The rebels surrendered, Snow is to be killed and Coin has named herself interim president which does not make Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) happy at all. But Coin doesn't want all the killings of Snow's followers to make people restless. So she decides that if the victors vote, the Hunger Games would be reinstated. I'm livid when Katniss votes in favor of the plan, but it was only so she could kill Snow. But then I realized that it was so she could have an opportunity to kill Coin because Snow was right after Coin after all, she was just after the power and was upset that she couldn't control Katniss's actions. So that's what she does and then Plutarch (the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman) helps her escape. She returns home and lives a quiet life, Paylor (Patina Miller) is elected President as leaders of all the districts decided upon it, which is what should have been done in the first place. And she picks Peeta, because she does love him after all. I knew she was going to pick him when she told Gale good-bye when he came to fetch her for Coin. He knew about the bombs killing the children, which was executed by Coin instead of Snow.
So Katniss and Peeta end up together and though in the first film, Katniss said she didn't want children, she and Peeta nevertheless have two and she tells her baby that whenever she has nightmares, she creates a list in her head of all the good things people have done but it is much less tedious than some games.
Okay, it was better than the first mockingjay movie, because this one was far more fast-paced, which was good. The performances, however, were only decent. When Haymitch read the letter Plutarch had written to Katniss, his voice was void of emotion, which just should not have happened. And Katniss showed no emotion until she came home to find Prim's cat. And there truly are too many characters, so you can't get to know them very well, which is just a shame, because they are could be excellent, fully fleshed characters. The characters look depressed throughout the whole film, which I guess also makes sense all there is an epic war going on and people are dying left and right. At least the setting is great and there wasn't an inconsistency in the editing, which is no small feat. That being said, it didn't affect me as the first one did. But Katniss is right, killing is personal and that is something that should never be forgotten. Grade: B
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