Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Director: Francis Lawrence
Running Time: 127 mins
Certificate: 12A
Release Date: November 19th 2015 (UK)

Here we have the end of a franchise that initially I didn’t think I would like, but which I have been impressed with over the years. Yet another teen book sensation transitioned onto the big screen, and on the surface The Hunger Games (2012) seemed like a tween rip-off of the excellent Battle Royal (2000). However, it was so much more than what I was expecting and its sequel Catching Fire (2013) is one of those rare sequels that is better than its predecessor.

As Hollywood trends seem fit, the third and final book, Mockingjay, was split into two movies a la Harry Potter, Divergent and Twilight. But this trend generates more money for the studio and the audience gets more time with the characters and story that they love. Everyone (in theory) wins, although with Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) the audience was left hungry for more (pun intended). [Read more…]