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Created Dec 24, 2015 04:07PM PST • Edited Dec 25, 2015 08:44AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   I’m loyal to Katniss Everdeen, so had to see the end of her story. Love can be painful and this movie was. Freighted with profound mournfulness, it’s simply too much and too long. Alas, The Hunger Games is ultimately high-toned YA, notwithstanding its often brilliant political grandstanding. Thus, Mockingjay – Part 2 feels like an interminable 2¼ hours, even as it’s well wrought, well earned and well performed.

   Shoulda heeded Briansez’s advice and not wasted a movie-going night on it, but JLaw’s Katniss had a hold on me and messed up my thinking. Oh well, it’s all over now Miss Mockingjay.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen remains an iconic movie character, even a socially important one. Pity that her swan song hardly does her justice.

   Notables from the Huge Cast

   • Philip Seymour Hoffman appears larger than life at the very beginning of the movie, a shocking moment given that he’s been dead for quite some time now. Such a waste…
   • Josh Hutchinson & Liam Hemsworth are both distinctive as her romantic interests, even if one doubts that Hutchinson will ever be more than a supporting actor.
   • Woody Harrelson & Elizabeth Banks do little more than cameo.
   • Julianne Moore plays more blank than bold as the rebel leader.
   • Donald Sutherland’s dictator is one of his greatest acting creations.
   • Sam Claflin has considerable charisma.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    Director Francis Lawrence has been on a downward slide with his Hunger Games films after debuting so strongly with the second. Perhaps it is because he was working from Simon Beaufoy & Michael Arndt’s script on Catching Fire. Peter Craig & Danny Strong’s scripts for the final episodes are much flabbier.

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.1

17. Sex Innocent 1.4

18. Violence Brutal 2.6

19. Rudeness Salty 2.3

21. Reality

    Supernatural 3.4

22. Circumstantial Supernatural 3.3

23. Biological Surreal 3.0

24. Physical Supernatural 4.0