First, I'd like to put a mention out there simply for this film's movie posters alone. I was quite excited and impressed by the following one in particular. The whole idea behind these books is that Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is that everyone wants to fight--fight the Capitol, fight the rebels, fight against the hunger games...everyone's fighting--except Katniss. All she ever wants is peace and to live her life for herself. Yet she is continually wrapped up into the plans of those around her. This poster is brilliant because, just looking at Lawrence, you can see that in her face. I just love that more than words can even say.
This is going to be a bit of a long post simply because there's so much to cover in this book to movie.
As we all know, the previous film ended with Peeta in the hospital, as well as Katniss after he tried to strangle her. While trapped at the Capitol, he was given tracker jacker venom making his mind extremely confused, to say the least. Katniss finally gets out of her room to see President Coin rallying her district against the Capitol.
So now we get into the action--literally immediately. It was so funny because I went to see the film with my boyfriend and found out afterwards that he had to use the restroom from the very get go, but couldn't bear to leave because the action was so nonstop intense.
I'm going to try and skip anything I don't feel is worth mentioning because there was so much that was excellent.
Let's jump ahead to Katniss's hiding on a medical supply plane to make it to the battlefield where the rebels plan to take the Nut, which is the hub of the Capitol's military supplies. We get to one of my favorite minor characters Commandor Paylor, portrayed by Patina Miller. Words can't describe how much I enjoyed her portrayal of the future new leader of Panem. I'm not sure exactly what it was about her portrayal--and it could have even been her look. She has this air of kindness, mixed in with kindness and intellect. It's quite hard to explain but, even in her first scene, which was rather brief, she won my heart instantly.
The rebels take the Nut and Katniss is shot, just like in the book, and ends up back in the hospital with bruised ribs.
We get to Finnick and Annie's wedding, which isn't shown to be used as a propo as I remember in the book. I was honestly a little worried this would get cut out, because it is such a quick little moment, but it was there and it was lovely! Katniss has a great moment dancing around with her sister Prim and it's one of the few happier moments. Of course, Katniss's head is still spinning out of control and I honestly got a little nauseous near the end of that scene while the camera spun around and around. If you're prone to motion sickness, feel free to turn away. I promise you nothing will be missed!
We also get the treat of seeing Johanna quite a number of times but not nearly as much as I remember in the book. As in the book, Johanna steals some of Katniss's pain killers and has some "oh so lovely" words to say to her while Katniss is down with the broken ribs. We don't get to see either of them train again, nor do we get to see them become friends. However, Johanna does still inspire Katniss to want to assassinate Snow herself. In the book, I remember Johanna being told she couldn't go to battle, so she asks Katniss to murder Snow for her. I have to say, I really found myself liking Johanna in the book, but she was given way less screen time in the movie preventing that for those only watching the movies.
Now, let's get to war. As in the books, Katniss is put on a team with Gale, the camera crew (Cressida, Pollux and Castor), Finnick, Boggs and some people I could care less about (sorry to those actors playing those characters!). Pollux is one of my favorite characters in the book, so I was probably most excited for this movie to see more of him, especially because Elden Henson (the actor playing that role) was perfect for my interpretation. After they experience their first pod (which was a giant explosion), the crew rests and they are given Peeta on their team to be in some propos. This is where the action picks up and really never stops.
The next pod is a bunch of machine guns (I think, I'm not too familiar with guns), followed immediately by another pod that takes off Boggs's legs. Despite the fact that we got less Boggs in the movie than the book, I sobbed as he transferred security of the Holo to Katniss before dying. Of course, we are given enough of Boggs to have him reveal to Katniss what he thinks Coin's real plan is, helping Katniss to see the truth in all of this: Coin wants Snow dead so she can take over Panem. That said, Coin needs Katniss dead so she can insure her win in the future election for president. Let's be real, we all know Katniss can't stand Coin so she most certainly wouldn't support her candidacy for president.
Boggs is dead, they lose a few more members to Peacekeepers and the black oil sludge flood of doom and Katniss has to quickly convince her team that their real mission as a team is to get Katniss to Snow for the assassination. Let's be real, neither Snow or Coin are great so, at this point, killing either is an excellent idea. With the help of Cressida, they convince the rest of their team and move forward towards Snow's mansion. Then we get my favorite characters moment: Pollux leads them through the sewers and underground tunnels to avoid all above ground pods. He is just such an adorable character, and I love him. I promise I won't gush about this character any more.
Of course, we see the Mutts. Now, I went ahead and looked this up because I don't recall them looking like this in previous movies and I was right. We saw these guys before, but apparently different versions, according to what I looked up. I was pretty sure I only remembered there being one type of Mutt in the books, but I suppose either the movie took liberties or I just don't remember them like that. In this book, we get Lizard Mutts, aka really gross looking water zombies, as I like to call them. They honestly remind me a bit of the Marvel character Venom. haha With that, I was rather disappointed that they went with this look rather than that of the original Mutts, the combination of werewolves that had the faces of fallen tributes from the Games. But now I can't remember if there was another kind of Mutt or not.
No we're down to 5. Pollux, Cressida, Peeta, Gale and Katniss and to a moment of extreme happiness on my part, as well as disappointment. We finally get to see Tigris. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't extremely excited to see this character come to life. She is super minor and is only briefly shown, but they completely nailed it. Tigris, like in the book, gives the team a place to rest safely, but it's only for one night in the movie. This is where I was slightly disappointed: the crew uses Snow's offering of shelter to all Capitol residents to make their way forward but, in the movie, it's only Gale and Katniss. I understand that most movies try to push the guy that doesn't get the girl as much as possible (hello Twilight's Jacob Black) but I found myself a little irritated that they cut out the other 3 going as well. That was a turning point in the book for me because everyone was in 100%. It almost seemed like the other three were kind of like, "Yeah, um, we (Cressida and Pollux) don't want to risk our lives any more and Peeta isn't mentally stable (even though he was at that point), so good luck, guys!" Not a fan. :D
Unfortunately, we don't get to see the pods continuing to go off splitting the road in half or the purple laser of death killing more residents of the Capitol. Instead, we cut right to Gale getting caught and captured by Peacekeepers as Katniss makes a break for the mansion gates. As in the book, Katniss sees Prim one last time before the parachute bombs take out she and many other residents of the Capitol.
Once again, the movie stays true to the book up until after Coin's death. Rather than Katniss being acquitted, thanks to testimonies by Gale and another favorite character of mine, Beetee, she is told her she will be pardoned by the new president, Paylor, once things die down. This was a hard moment to bear, because she was then read a letter from Plutarch by Haymitch, as the Philip Seymour Hoffman (Plutarch) died before they could film this scene. I absolutely adored him, so this was a difficult pill to swallow, especially because I'm certain Lawrence and Woody Harrelson struggled getting that scene done. It was originally a scene meant to have Plutarch explaining all of this to Katniss himself.
Katniss is, as in the books, sent back to her district to live and is later joined by Peeta to live happily ever after... with Prim's beloved cat. Yep, don't worry, the cat is safe and living back in her district. I have absolutely no idea how she got there, but it was a great moment that certainly lightened the seriousness up.
All in all, I felt this book was the closest to the books than any of the other movies, and I was extremely happy with it. There were some disappointing moment but the majority of the movie was amazing. I highly recommend you read the books as well as see the movies but, in the case of this one, reading the books won't give you too much more than what is included in the movie.
Now go and support this movie and see it! :) Then tell me how you liked it!
