When I first read The Hunger Games back in that far and distant era that was sixth-grade, I, like many others at the time, was intrigued by not only the futuristic and dystopian story that the original books brought to the table but also the characters in this tale that were popularized by the original books. Fast forward to present time, and we find ourselves with the release of the last movie of the saga in the way of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2”.

This movie, trust me on this, is in no way or form a cinematic success or a masterpiece of a film, because it is not meant to be that. It is a big blockbuster that will work and act just like one with really nothing else to offer. With that said, this “Part 2” suffers from what many blockbuster movies have suffered (and gained mountains of cash) from, and that is the fact the movie was split into two parts. The film directly picks up where the last one left off. The only problem is that many just like me have absolutely no idea where this movie left off. Not just that, even though the film felt like four hours long (actual running time: 2 hours and 17 minutes), it feels incomplete as if like you were only getting the second part of a movie. Oh wait.

The movie picks up with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and the “rebels” closing in on the Capitol to complete their goal of taking back the fictional country of Panem from the hands of the oppressive control of the evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Both the protagonist and the antagonist work better than ever in this film even though they share the screen very few times.

The beginning of the film, although a little boring, is not that bad in comparison to the rest of the films, in fact if it wasn’t for the struggle of trying to remember what happened in the previous film, it would have been much better. In the second half of “Part 2” we find ourselves actually cheering on this main character who has finally blossomed three movies later. Katniss and others rally and run to their goal of killing President Snow and completing the revolution. Many of the characters from the previous movies appear including flashes of the late-great Philip Seymour Hoffman. And many of those characters fall one by one helping Katniss with her goal.

In the end, the “Mockingjay” book has always had a bad reputation as being the worst book of the trilogy, but the film is surely one of the best, if not the best of the entire collection of films. With thrilling action, the second half of the movie saves the film by delivering good action scenes and suspense done right in a film. The film also brought forward Jennifer Lawrence’s best performance in the series as she has clearly evolved as an actress throughout the years. It was a fitting way to end the story of “the Hunger Games” without any serious errors that would complicate the legacy of the movies, the books or the story.