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The revolution is upon us in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2," a fast-paced and intermittently moving finale for author Suzanne Collins' dystopian saga.
Director Francis Lawrence picks up right where the last movie left off — in fact, watching the DVD of "Mockingjay, Part 1" before seeing "Part 2" wouldn't be a bad idea — with rebel Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) nursing the neck bruises from when her friend Peeta Mellark, brainwashed by The Capitol, tried to choke her. While Peeta is slowly deprogrammed, Katniss is pressed back into service by rebel president Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) to make more propaganda films as The Mockingjay, the symbol of the revolution.
Katniss wants to be more than a mere showpiece for the fight against The Capitol. She wants to go in, personally, and assassinate President Snow (Donald Sutherland), whose brutality has kept the Districts in conflict and created the Roman circus that is the Hunger Games.
Katniss tries to sneak up to the front, but she's observed by Coin and her top adviser, gamesmaker Plutarch Heavensbee (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman). Coin decides to make Katniss' rogue operation look like a planned operation, so she sends a unit — led by a top officer, Boggs (Mahershala Ali), and including Katniss' sometime boyfriend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) and former Hunger Games rival Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin) — to accompany her for some front-line propaganda videos, with TV producer Cressida (Natalie Dormer) and crew in tow. Also on the trip is a handcuffed Peeta, sent to make Snow's side think the brainwashing didn't hold.
The bulk of the action happens with this military squad, navigating the abandoned streets of The Capitol and avoiding the many landmines and traps — not to mention the "mutts," flesh-eating subterranean humanoids.
Director Lawrence (no relation to the movie's star) stages some ferocious action sequences, including a booby-trapped plaza and a sewer battle with some "mutts." The movie, even at more than 2 hours, feels crammed at times, between the action set pieces, showy special effects and fan service to give the saga's major characters their moment. For example, Elizabeth Banks, as style maven Effie Trinket, nearly disappears from view until she's shoehorned in awkwardly near the end.
Then there's the time wasted in the Peeta-or-Gale love triangle, which continues to be the least interesting thing about "The Hunger Games," whether you're on Team Peeta or Team Gale. (Me, I'm on Team Don't-Define-a-Strong-Woman-By-Her-Boyfriend.)
There are moments, though, when the director and the screenwriters, Peter Craig and Danny Strong (with a rewrite by Collins herself), get back to basics. Lawrence has some tender scenes with Katniss' sister Prim (Willow Shields) — who, after all, is the reason Katniss volunteered for the Hunger Games in the first place. And Katniss' wary back-and-forth with Sutherland's President Snow is a cagey reminder that gamesmanship isn't only for the arena.
As throughout "The Hunger Games" saga, "Mockingjay, Part 2" succeeds because of its star. Jennifer Lawrence has matured before our eyes over four films in four years (plus winning an Oscar for "Silver Linings Playbook" and stealing "American Hustle"), and she concludes here by giving the franchise a measure of defiant grace.
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'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2'
The dystopian franchise ends with plenty of action and, as always, solid work from Jennifer Lawrence.
Where • Theaters everywhere
When • Opens today.
Rating • PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and for some thematic material.
Running time • 137 minutes.