Here we are for the final of this trilogy, and next week, the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie review.

The movie summary for part 1 and part 2.

“Following her rescue from the devastating Quarter Quell, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) awakes in the complex beneath the supposedly destroyed District 13. Her home, District 12, has been reduced to rubble, and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) is now the brainwashed captive of President Snow (Donald Sutherland). At the same time, Katniss also learns about a secret rebellion spreading throughout all of Panem — a rebellion that will place her at the center of a plot to turn the tables on Snow.”

“Realizing the stakes are no longer just for survival, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) teams up with her closest friends, including Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and Finnick for the ultimate mission. Together, they leave District 13 to liberate the citizens of war-torn Panem and assassinate President Snow, who’s obsessed with destroying Katniss. What lies ahead are mortal traps, dangerous enemies and moral choices that will ultimately determine the future of millions.”

If you have never read the book, A word of warning: Not everyone will make it out. You may need tissues. On they other hand this movie is an interesting ending to the trilogy.

To keep my thoughts straight, I will talk about each movie separately.

My thoughts on Mockingjay Part 1. I have 5 thoughts.

Firstly, in District 13 in the books, we see how regimented the food is, down to a person’s weight. What you are doing that day, and your schedule, are printed on your wrist. You don’t see that in the movie. All you see in the movie is everyone wearing the same clothing. This lack of a schedule messes things up in the second movie.

Secondly, the rebellion is one of the great things about this being a movie, you get to see things that are not attached to Katniss. We have people willing to throw themselves into danger with just spite against the Capital. This is interesting because in the book we hear about which Districts are rebelling, so it is cool to see it.

Thirdly, Effie Trinket. Mainly, the fact that instead of Katniss’ prep team, this is slightly more of a difference because the prep team was not a major part of the movie, the way that they are in the books. Also, it is interesting that, unlike the prep team, Effie is not mistreated the way that the prep team are. But it is fun how Effie treats living normally as slumming it.

Fourthly Peeta. I made sure not to look up when this movie ended. So, the fact that it ends with a hijacked Peeta makes so much sense. Also, and this has nothing against Susan Collins, but certain things are more effective in real life.

Fifthly, we come to the battle between Katniss and President Snow. In the book, the attack on the hospital in District 8 was just an attack to weaken the districts. But in the movie, this is President Snow’s attempt to murder Katniss. It once again feels unreal that he is so fixated on wrecking her as if the rebellion would suddenly stop if she died. The conversation was truly chilling.

And now on to the second movie, I have three thoughts.

Firstly, for all that they split the book into two movies, it feels like they cut too much out of the book. This is what I mentioned earlier. Because in the book she does not follow her schedule and then has to work hard to earn her place. We don’t include any of Katniss’s training, we miss her trying to earn her way onto the team. Instead, we have Katniss sneaking on.

Secondly, we cut most of the brutality from President Coin and District 13, which leads to it being more of a surprise when Katniss kills Coin. There is no moral complexity with Coin. In the book, there is a slow buildup of uses over Coin, but in the movie, you could think Katniss killed Coin just because of Prim’s death.

Thirdly, Snow’s illness. As I mentioned in the previous review, there was no hint of President Snow having blood in his mouth in the Catching Fire movie. It feels like they realised that they forgot that he needed Snow to be sick for his death to make sense. And this movie is the only one where he is sick. This feels a bit forced.

Thank you for sticking with me for this review and until next week.

Happy reading to all and to all a good night.