Too long following its split into two parts, the last film still has some qualities: a good action scene, exciting music and its heroine, Katniss, always badass and played with conviction by Jennifer Lawrence.
TMC wraps the rebroadcast of the saga tonight The Hunger Games : The Revolt (part 2) will return at 9:15 p.m. When it was released at the end of 2015, the editorial staff of First was a little disappointed. After rich first two episodes in shock scenes, twists and top actors, the fact of cutting the third volume of Suzanne Collins in two parts made the last two films lose rhythm… Here is our review.
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Warning: despite the care taken not to spoil anything important, this review still evokes certain elements of the plot of the last The Hunger Games. You have been warned.
Because of their hallucinating success, the films The Hunger Games -like those of Christopher Nolan or of Quentin Tarantino– would henceforth be beyond any critical attack. 50,000,000 Katniss Fans Can’t Be Wrong. Difficult then to write a review ofThe Hunger Games ? Not really. Not at all, even, on the condition of agreeing to consider them as they are: films and nothing else, and to put aside the social phenomenon aspect for a moment – to forget the figures a little. The Revolt (Part 2) is the final film in the series. Afterwards, poof, it’s over, move on, there’s nothing more to see. So let’s take it as it should be: the end of a saga, that of Katniss in her fight against the Capitol dictatorship in a post-apocalyptic America.
Like Harry Potter And Twilight, The revolt (mockingjay in VO) was divided into two films “to make more money, obviously” (according to its star Jennifer Lawrencewho texted him to us in interview) and each of its two parts deeply bears the mark of this thickening. The movie equivalent of line drawing. The fault lies there: the two parts of this Revolt are damn talkative and slow. Degreased and reduced to a single film, the result would have been more nervous, drier, more action. Realize: in 2h17 of film, there is only ONE action scene. Very well shot, of course (with a set-up referring to Aliens The Return – there’s worse as a reference), especially compared to the standards of the current Yankee actioner, but devoid of any dramatic stake, which is ultimately only a pleasant interlude that serves mainly as filler. At best, the film does the job (the penultimate sequence where everything unravels is even brilliantly done) but the very end shows that its SF subtext does not go far. A little heroic breath, little vision. Little cinema.
It’s a shame, because the vision of the Capitole transformed into a futuristic war zone does not lack power (funny to see that the very real buildings of Noisy-le-Grand and Ivry-sur-Seine inspire oligarchic paradises for interior decorators). ‘The Hunger Games). And the film puts into practice some good ideas like putting the war out of frame or on its edge through the eyes of Katniss (the bombardment of the base at the beginning), or ending deliberately far from any spectacular triumphalism. But damn it, once again dedicating looooooong scenes to the Peeta/Katniss/Gale love triangle (been there, done that) without ever making it progress is once again pure and simple filler. The non-reader of the novel will also have the feeling that there are holes in the script (see the latest Harry Potter, sometimes incomprehensible if you haven’t hit the book).
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We would like to be able to write that it is the best film of the saga, to exhaust the dictionary of synonyms to speak of an epic, flamboyant, explosive conclusion. Or when everything is dark, anti-spectacular, anti-war and disillusioned – in short, the film finally knows how to combine these two tendencies which have shaken the saga from the start (Katniss is both heroine and manipulated). We can not. The Revolt (Part 2) is not at The Hunger Games that The king’s return is at Lord of the Rings. Apart from this famous action scene in the middle of the footage and a crazy score of James Newton Howard – her best taf on the four films, and which deserves, she, the qualifiers of epic, flamboyant, explosive -, the film advances too slowly towards its conclusion. The big final emotional twist, supposed to shoot us with emotion (we are told that in the book it is like that) and signify the bitter conclusion of Katniss’ odyssey, is treated too quickly. We always come up against the same problem: having made a 4h20 film where half would have sufficed. Neither great melodrama, nor great war film, nor miraculous fusion between the two.
But you know what ? We don’t care a bit. Whether the film is good or bad or just too long, it has already won. And not just at the box office. The fans will be on their knees no matter what and the main victory ofThe Hunger Games is of an industrial nature: having finally demonstrated to Hollywood that films with a cool and badass woman in the main role could bring in billions. And that is very important. That these films are not an artistic triumph, in fact, is less so.
Sylvester Picard (@sylvestrepicard)
Trailer ofHunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 2) :
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