Speaks Reviews - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2

Two Much is Not Enough

★★ 1/2 out of ★★★★

A Speaks Movie Review

About this time two years ago, I walked out of my screening of Catching Fire, the second installment of The Hunger Games franchise, literally on fire. I had seen a sequel that was better than the original, by far. A movie so good it could stand alone as a sci-fi action masterpiece. I stand by that.

Then, last year about this time, I left Mockingjay, Part 1 fully unsatisfied. I had gotten a pretty much scene-by-scene adaptation of barely half of a book that I only sort of liked to begin with. In the days of movie studios splitting apart and dragging out and rebooting and remaking entertainment for cash, we, the audience, find ourselves repeatedly dragged into mediocre movies that don't have to be mediocre. 

They don't have to be mediocre because Catching Fire isn't.

Philip Seymour Hoffman Blogathon!

I'll start by saying that the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman stands as one of the great tragedies of my movie-loving life. He was an actor of immense skill and passion. One able to transform into any character, make us believe him, and thus effortlessly reminding us that performers can truly transform us.

Last week, a new blogathon made its way to me by way of Wendell at Dell on Movies, a movie blogger tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman.

It comes from a blog new to me but one I plan to keep up with going forward.

That blog is Epileptic Moondancer. And this is my contribution to the Philip Seymour Hoffman Blogathon! Note that I am going outside of the original rule of choosing one Hoffman role and discussing it. I just can't do that. Hoffman's work is too ingrained in me. I can't choose one. I have to choose many. I promise. I'm not showboating. I'm just in awe and still utterly devastated by the loss of a man so dear to me, a man I only knew through these great performances I hold so dear.