The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (12A, 137 mins)

Director: Francis Lawrence

3 stars

Generally speaking, popular franchise movies have made up for the greed-motivated scam of splitting a finale into two parts by making the second part an experience that was worth both the wait for the release and the extra two hours of screen time.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was a monumental conclusion and Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 was all sorts of crazy fun, even if most of it turned out to be a Bobby-in-the-shower swizz.

This fourth part in the Hunger Games trilogy created by Suzanne Collins would really have to go some to completely ruin what has been set up, yet a feeling of dissatisfaction emerges from what it is a protracted, at times lethargic drama.

It picks up immediately after the end of Mockingjay Part 1, with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) still coming to terms with the fact that friend and occasional fiancé Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) has been brainwashed by their enemies into believing he must kill her.

They're in District 13, where Katniss is being used by President Coin (Julianne Moore) as the figurehead of the resistance. A full scale rebellion is firing up, and it recalls Star Wars in these early stages as they plan an attack on the stronghold of the Capital.

Sick of being their puppet, Katniss decides the best course is to kill President Snow (Donald Sutherland) herself. So along with a small squad of soldiers including the other edge of the love triangle, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), they make their way to the Capital.

Once there they find the city rigged with booby traps like it’s still the Hunger Games, and for a while the action is top notch, with inventive traps and a mutant attack that makes for an especially strong sequence. The scale and design of the city streets is stunning, and whether the filmmakers have found amazing locations or used special effects, it looks great.

Though adapted from a Young Adult fiction, it’s by no means kids’ stuff, but a meaty thriller that also works on an ethical level, raising questions about how far it’s permissible to go in order to win a war. It’s lucky to have such a commanding character as Katniss leading the charge, plus the mesmerisingly good Lawrence to bring her to life.

But there seems no hurry to get anywhere, and for the first time the series feels a bit sluggish in places, like they know where the story needs to get to but don’t want us to get there too quickly because they have to justify this second instalment.

On the plus side the interesting stuff is kept ticking over, like loyalties and motivations and what will become of Peeta. Sadly it then rather pulls the rug away for an unsatisfactory resolution, and there’s a sense of deflation that what it seemed to promise never quite materialises. The simple fact is there was nowhere near two movies to be wrung from this material. Worse than that, for all that build up, it has to be considered a bit of a letdown.

See it if you liked: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1