Went and saw Mockingjay 2 with sister, niece, and mom (not gonna talk about it).
Went and saw Mockingjay 2 with sister, niece, and mom (not gonna talk about it). It's ... ok. They tried, I think, to stick too much to the book in places, and really should have handled many things better. I suppose someone might get spoiled so I will not get specific. Also, I have now seen some of the well hidden promotional stuff for this movie, and I really would rather have seen some of the costume iterations that were in the promotional stuff and did not make it to the film, but whatevs.
Anyway, most of the reviews seem to complain that they attempted to include the epilogue as the final final final ending of the movie. It is kind of lame as a scene, although I think it could have worked as a slightly rewritten voice-over over one of the other endings. Meanwhile, it drags a lot at the beginning. Ok, halfway through. Ok 2/3. They really could have handled the Peeta-Gale-Katniss triangle better, too. The major thing, though, was their choices with pacing and story. They needed to, and could have, compressed a lot of bits into a much shorter exposition and gotten to the action-y bits, yet still continued to tell story and build tension even through the action. It never really feels like a climax, and even if you know what happens in the book, you feel disappointed when they finally get around to it on screen and then zip right through what needed a build-up to have much emotional impact.
The acting from pretty much everybody is on a much higher level than the movie itself. Again, critics seem to agree that Peeta and Gale both end up kind of blandly characterized, but I don't think that's the acting. I think it's whatever they got handed to work with, and who knows what's on the cutting room floor. A lot, I suspect. Besides, part of the thing about Gale and Peeta was that Peeta never was the Man of Action type, even though it turns out he quietly saw and did something about quite a bit. Gale was supposed to be the almost dashing, almost romantic hero who ends up far less sympathetic for good reason, not just bad writing/directing/editing, or whatever. You lose all that in this film.
There are a number of (mostly short) totally legit Scenes where Women Speak with Women. Won't spoil, but this includes some nifty cameos (nerd/geek alert). I still love love love Jenna Malone's characterization. Can't say much without spoilers, but a rough summation might be, "Fuck you, I will not apologize." You don't completely lose the idea that Katniss is a complex being, but they don't do anything more with it, either, and you'd kind of like to see her intensely evolve all the way to the end of the film. Other than by yelling at an unbelievably well trained cat. Sorry, that's a spoiler, I suppose, but I had to give acting kudos to the cat.
I still don't quite get Julianne Moore's President Coin, which, again, I don't think is all on her. Like, what is with the contacts? And the costume? In this franchise, how do you make me look askance at a costume? I mean, the color scheme I totally get. Even the textures. It's just, so, fashion don't all of a sudden. Whatever, maybe that's why spoilerspolerspoiler.
So, you know, if you like the franchise, go see it, but it's not quite at the level of the other movies.
Ok, I have to say this spoilery bit. A short hair cut is not a cool way to communicate power-hungry female leader. You didn't need the hair cut to happen, at all. However, many of the critics commented, and I noticed it, as well. And one critic even said it "... told you all you needed to know ..." which just tells me that it is, indeed, a negative cultural trope. Female with relatively severe hairstyle = pick your pejorative. Bite me. Hair does not the woman make.
Anyway, most of the reviews seem to complain that they attempted to include the epilogue as the final final final ending of the movie. It is kind of lame as a scene, although I think it could have worked as a slightly rewritten voice-over over one of the other endings. Meanwhile, it drags a lot at the beginning. Ok, halfway through. Ok 2/3. They really could have handled the Peeta-Gale-Katniss triangle better, too. The major thing, though, was their choices with pacing and story. They needed to, and could have, compressed a lot of bits into a much shorter exposition and gotten to the action-y bits, yet still continued to tell story and build tension even through the action. It never really feels like a climax, and even if you know what happens in the book, you feel disappointed when they finally get around to it on screen and then zip right through what needed a build-up to have much emotional impact.
The acting from pretty much everybody is on a much higher level than the movie itself. Again, critics seem to agree that Peeta and Gale both end up kind of blandly characterized, but I don't think that's the acting. I think it's whatever they got handed to work with, and who knows what's on the cutting room floor. A lot, I suspect. Besides, part of the thing about Gale and Peeta was that Peeta never was the Man of Action type, even though it turns out he quietly saw and did something about quite a bit. Gale was supposed to be the almost dashing, almost romantic hero who ends up far less sympathetic for good reason, not just bad writing/directing/editing, or whatever. You lose all that in this film.
There are a number of (mostly short) totally legit Scenes where Women Speak with Women. Won't spoil, but this includes some nifty cameos (nerd/geek alert). I still love love love Jenna Malone's characterization. Can't say much without spoilers, but a rough summation might be, "Fuck you, I will not apologize." You don't completely lose the idea that Katniss is a complex being, but they don't do anything more with it, either, and you'd kind of like to see her intensely evolve all the way to the end of the film. Other than by yelling at an unbelievably well trained cat. Sorry, that's a spoiler, I suppose, but I had to give acting kudos to the cat.
I still don't quite get Julianne Moore's President Coin, which, again, I don't think is all on her. Like, what is with the contacts? And the costume? In this franchise, how do you make me look askance at a costume? I mean, the color scheme I totally get. Even the textures. It's just, so, fashion don't all of a sudden. Whatever, maybe that's why spoilerspolerspoiler.
So, you know, if you like the franchise, go see it, but it's not quite at the level of the other movies.
Ok, I have to say this spoilery bit. A short hair cut is not a cool way to communicate power-hungry female leader. You didn't need the hair cut to happen, at all. However, many of the critics commented, and I noticed it, as well. And one critic even said it "... told you all you needed to know ..." which just tells me that it is, indeed, a negative cultural trope. Female with relatively severe hairstyle = pick your pejorative. Bite me. Hair does not the woman make.
Comments
Post a Comment