Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015) Review

Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Haymitch Abernathy and co are back for the fourth and final time in Mockinjay – Part 2.

The big finale of the franchise and the most action-packed of the lot, right? Well, not exactly. After the slow build up of Part 1, I had higher hopes for Part 2 but it did not live up to my expectations. I found myself losing interest halfway through the film and I thought it was dragged out when they could have cut a lot of it out. Personally I think they could have made Part 1 and Part 2 in to one film but of course, like all big book-turned-blockbuster franchise, they knew they could make a lot of money going for the classic 2 part ending.

Part 1 ended with love interest, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), retrieved by the rebels but he is now brainwashed and despises Katniss (Jennifer Lawrance). After trying to strangle her to death, he is now confined to a room where he is strapped to the bed. Part 2 begins where we left off with Katniss struggling to talk after Peeta’s attack. But the girl on fire has to recover quickly as she still has a battle on her hands with President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in a bid to rebel against the Hunger Games and stop it from taking place ever again.

The emotional parts however felt rushed. I will try to avoid spoilers but there were a possible 2 or 3 big dramatic key points in the film that had no real feeling to them. A lot more could have been done to create a bigger impact for the audience and made us walk away remembering the film afterwards. Mockingjay – Part 2 was highly concentrated on the visuals and whilst some scenes looked fantastic, that took away from the deep, heartfelt moments that could have been.

I also found there wasn’t enough Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) throughout the film. In the book, he is such a big character but I found he didn’t have much screen time in Mockingjay – Part 2. And we can never see too much Liam Hemsworth. Jennifer Lawrance was flawless however and once again gave a wonderful performance of Katniss Everdeen.

Overall, I found Part 2 to be at best mediocre. It wasn’t a bad film but it was neither memorable or exiting either.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Spectre (2015) Review

The name is Bond. James Bond.

He’s a lover of flash cars, hard liquor, and beautiful women – it’s no other than 007 cruising back on to our screens in the long anticipated Spectre.

Daniel Craig returns for the fourth (and rumoured final) time as our cool, stylist, and slightly arrogant James Bond. With a license to kill, it’s not long before buildings are being dramatically blown up and intense fighting scenes are breaking out. This is a fast paced, action packed movie that is full of amazing visual effects from beginning to end.

The film begins with Bond in Mexico City at the Day of the Dead festival, a popular Mexican festival that honors the dead. Bond calmly takes a woman back to a hotel suite but he is soon jumping out a window and sliding himself down to a building where his victim awaits and after firing a few shots at the windows, the building blows up and soon Bond is chasing a baddie through the city which ends in a dramatic fight scene in a helicopter. All in a day’s work for our beloved agent.

In the first five minutes we can see that the cinematography is beautifully thought out and constructed to make it as visibly astonishing as possible. Everything we love about Bond is reinforced in the opening scene; he’s slick, cool, calm, and nothing seems to phase him. And it only gets better from here.

After the fast paced scenes in Mexico City, we soon find ourselves back in London where we find out that MI6’s Double-0 program is under threat due to surveillance agent, C (Andrew Scott). There’s no rest for our Bond however as he zooms off to Rome, Austria, and North Africa, accomplished by Bond Girl, Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) in a bid to kill assassins, terrorists, and all round bad guys who are all run by  Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz).

The action scenes in Spectre are fantastic, each one had me on the edge of my seat as I watched Bond wind up in a plane chase in Austria, a car chase in Rome, and beating up bad guys at every given opportunity. Spectre is a film full of action scenes that makes it impossible for you to tear your eyes from the screen for even a split second. And Daniel Craig brings in the humour, giving us a lighthearted Bond, whilst still oozing his cool and collected attitude.

With a running time of 148 minutes, Spectre is a long but enjoyable watch. At times I felt like not a lot was happening however and although it was entertaining to watch, I feel like they could have edited the film down without any real effect to the plot.

Good film? Certainly! But it wasn’t on the same level as Skyfall, and Casino Royale will remain my favourite Daniel Craig Bond film. Nevertheless, for all Bond fans out there, you will not be disappointed with this latest addition to the franchise.

Overall Rating: 4/5