Grade:  A (or newbie to the series)

Director: Francis Lawerence

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Natalie Dormer, with Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland

Rated: PG-13 by the MPAA for intense sequences of violence and action, and for some thematic material

Length: 136 minutes

I gotta be honest:  I haven’t seen all the “Hunger Games” movies.  I apologize.  My first exposure to the series was in the form of enthusiasm from my sons and my students.  Since the books came out, I have gotten to see most of the first movie, but not in its entirety.  I have seen enough of the first movie to “get the gist” of what is going on.

So, off I went to see the last installment in the trilogy, Mockingjay Part 2.  I took my daughter (a big fan of the series and the movies) with me to help with my review.  She was an enormous help. I also read reviews of the other movies, read summaries of the other movies, and basically tried to pull a cliff-notes style cram session before writing this review.  There.  I have now told you all the truth.

The movie picks up where Part 1 left off.  Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawerence) is recuperating from an injury and also trying to cope with the fact that her great love, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) is brainwashed and is now basically an enemy.  After that, the movie takes us to the President’s home where an assassination plot is to be carried out.  Along the way, Katniss and her team are met with all types of obstacles.  Plus, poor Katniss must face the fact that she has two men interested in her — Peeta, of course, and her former flame Gale, played by the somewhat possessive and whiney Liam Hemsworth.  It isn’t too hard to figure out which one she will pick, and I’m sure I’d feel even surer of myself if I were more schooled on the series.  However, I do find both love interests a little dull compared to the ferocious and fiery Katniss. Characters from previous movies appear again, undoubtedly portraying what the war has done to them. There are fantastic special effects, scares and suspense that make you jump a few times, and good, solid characters. Throughout the film, I kept thinking of the word “classy.” For a newbie, I thought the whole show was well done and the cast was on top of its game.

I will say that the same aspect that drew us in to the first movie is still drawing us in. Even though the games aren’t going on anymore, we find Katniss trudging along on a quest — the same thing that kept us involved from the beginning.

Lawerence can do no wrong.  Knowing what I know about her public persona, this character seems to be a complete opposite.  She plays Katniss as a tormented, complex person, constantly battling inner demons.  Lawerence does a great job of communicating all the inner turmoil through her expressions and concise dialogue.  She is stellar in this role, which really put her on Hollywood’s “A” list.

The supporting cast is acclaimed and I especially enjoyed Sutherland as the villainous Snow.  Julianne Moore also does a great job as Snow’s political rival, Coin. I am always impressed with actors who can play villains as quiet, calculating and sadistic people as they mess with our heads.

Most folks would be appalled to learn I am jumping into this series and only experiencing it from the end.  However, I think I can still offer some good feedback from this vantage point;  as a stand-alone movie, I still thought Mockingjay was stylish, well-acted and well done. I doubt, however, that there are many who will see it without having seen the others.

I only noticed a bit of overacting and a few bogged down spots between characters. After I’ve seen the other movies in their entirety, I’m sure I will either like it even more or feel I am in a position to be more critical.  Who knows? I will probably even be able to comment confidently on why the book trilogy needed around eight hours of screen time to get the whole story told.

It’s a pretty safe bet fans will be satisfied as they breathe a sigh of relief that all is resolved. As this is the end of the show for Katniss, these battles come to an end and fans can now have closure.

My daughter was a great help and probably came up with the best summation: “I thought it was very good, and I’m glad to know what happened to all the characters.  But I still don’t know why they had four movies when there are only three books.”

Ah. Now there’s a question.