Full disclosure here, guys. On the day I went to see the final film in the Hunger Games series, I was sick as a dog. Not like ‘Ooh, I’ve got a bit of a winter sniffle’, more like I was hovering on the precipice of a three-day endurance test during which time me and my toilet became best friends, I watched approximately 25 hours of boxsets and managed to stand upright for a total of three hours. Basically, I was not in a good place. Also, I did have to leave 20 minutes before the end because it was either that or shower the nice Eastern European journalists to my right with the contents of *my *Hunger Games, if you get what I mean.
Basically, I liked Mockingjay Part 2, but if you don’t, I’m blaming my delirium for giving you a bum review.
Here’s why you should go and see it.
1. Peeta and Gale are massive fannies
Like, for two macho chaps playing a huge old part in saving the world from a dictatorial nightmare, they sure spend a lot of time moping about which one of them gets to ask Katniss to prom with them (not actual prom, I just mean they’re acting like the movie stereotype of a teenage girl. A mid-revolution prom would be weird).
Katniss, for her part, gives literally no shits. She’s going to kill President Snow and not even life-threatening injuries and the deaths of several people close to her are going to mess with that. Let alone having to deal with the lamentations of two overly emotional teenage boys. Sisters are doing it for themselves and all that.
Here’s the notes I found scrawled to myself on this subject later on...
2. It’s properly scary
Like, I’m way above needing a chaperone to a 12A film, but I think maybe I should’ve had one. Katniss and Krew are in mortal peril, a lot. There are these weapons that the Capitol have with which they’ve booby-trapped the city. Take a casual walk through a deserted street and then BAM axe to the face. I would legitimately have died in scene one. Also, there’s a great scene in the sewers where the Krew are being pursued that’s white-knuckle nail biting.
3. Jena Malone does crazy very well
Johanna was always kind of a wild card but in this film, after being rescued from The Capitol, she’s next level. Shaved head and sunken eyes, she doesn’t agree with Katniss, but she’s sure as hell going to support her and, let’s face it, when the weight of the (un)free world is bearing down on your shoulders, having crazy on your side certainly doesn’t hurt.
Also – get this – Jena Malone had a head double in the film. Not a body double, a *head *double. ‘There was a woman that also had a bald head that was brought in to kind of also film some of my sequences,’ she said on Jimmy Kimmel. ‘I had a stunt head, which was incredible. I think she already had a shaved head, I’m hoping.’
Hats off (or on) to Hollywood’s weirdest job-holder: Jena Malone’s stunt head.
4. If you haven’t read the books, prepare for twists upon twists
Obviously, if you’ve read them, you *know *that everything isn’t quite as straightforward as Katniss waltzing in to save the day. Because SOME characters might not be exactly what they seem. In fact, the levels of trickery that are concealed until the end are really rather impressive.
Perhaps if Peeta and Gale hadn’t been fannying around so much, Katniss would’ve been able to spend more time figuring out where the dissenters in her own camp were coming from.
5. Jennifer Lawrence
I mean, I know you know, we all know. But What. A. Gal. You know that saying ‘she couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag’? Well, Jennifer Lawrence could act her way out of every paper bag in the entire world and still have enough prowess left over to pick up an Oscar for a shitty short film she made on her iPhone.
If you’re feeling a bit small, insecure and not sure what to do with yourself, see this film for living proof that girls rock and together we can take over the world. Forget Hillary, J-Law for president 2016.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.