The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction
Added 2024-09-10 14:30:02 +0000 UTCAnd we are at the conclusion! What a wild world. I'll be sharing my reaction to the prequel next week! I'm looking forward to your comments. [Direct link here.]
Cheers,
✦ KL
Comments
Yeah I don't disagree at all. He has pick me energy.
kaiielle
2024-09-23 20:48:23 +0000 UTCMy issue with Gale “pining” for Katniss was that he acted entitled to her. “I’ve been her friend and known her longer, so I earned her love.” He was a perfect representation of an unhealthy friendship. So many people these days act nice, but are actually keeping track in a quid pro quo kind of way. “Hey, I helped you so you owe me.” That’s not what being nice or dependable is about. Gale, to me, is simply toxic and (by appearances) unremorseful for any of his actions.
Bryan Dempsey
2024-09-23 19:37:05 +0000 UTCHAHAHAHA it do be like that.
kaiielle
2024-09-18 22:19:10 +0000 UTCReally enjoyed watching these reactions! Every time you said you loved a character who dies I was like *sweats*
Breezy
2024-09-18 21:22:57 +0000 UTCPeeniss... Well it's either that or Keeta. Omg Cesar would have had a blast with a ship name like Peeniss.
Nathan Jasper, the Artist Formerly Known as Primary
2024-09-18 21:22:12 +0000 UTCYeah, that's totally fair. Also in reflecting on this, my main underwhelming feeling is regarding the Snow/Coin ending. We built up so much to that, but then Katniss gets knocked out and we skip time a bit. I would have liked to sit in the aftermath for a while! But perhaps that isn't in the book, so might end up being an overall story criticism of mine.
kaiielle
2024-09-18 21:13:39 +0000 UTCI'm excited to read the books to have it feel a bit more mysterious, even though I'll know the outcomes lol.
kaiielle
2024-09-18 21:12:20 +0000 UTC1000%.
kaiielle
2024-09-18 21:11:44 +0000 UTCSo much info! Thank you! I feel like as I was watching these, I just fully expected Katniss to be all-in for Gale because she grew up with him and they were so close. And since her and Peeta essentially started as a propaganda thing I was having a hell of a time being all-in with that. Keep in mind that I was also firmly expecting Peeta to die at some point in this story. Anyway, now that I know how it all unfolds, I can truly be Team Peeniss (I saw that on Letterboxd multple times lmao what a wild relationship name). Your comments about Snow and Katniss are exactly why I'm so eager to rewatch after watching the last movie! Completely agree with you about the ugly crying. It makes it feel way more realistic.
kaiielle
2024-09-18 21:11:30 +0000 UTCOh gosh, I bet! Sometimes you just need to put books down for a bit. Gale's "pick me" attitude is up with lots of women's "pick me" attitudes LOL.
kaiielle
2024-09-18 21:08:06 +0000 UTCTbh this is an issue I have with the adaptations as a whole. They oversimplified a lot of the reveals for the film audience, a good example is Peeta's warning in MJ1. Things that were given to us as breadcrumbs and hints in the books are explicitly stated in the film.
Breezy
2024-09-18 20:53:06 +0000 UTCAgreed about Gale! That's the same reason I hated Jacob in Twilight.
Nathan Jasper, the Artist Formerly Known as Primary
2024-09-11 11:21:26 +0000 UTCCan't say I agree with the ending being underwhelming. For me the whole point was that they finally got to live in peace, and that Katniss felt they live in a world now that she did want to bring children into. After all the terrible things they went through, they deserve that.
BJ Stephens
2024-09-11 05:02:23 +0000 UTCI see what you mean about being able to anticipate what Katniss would do in the final scene with Snow and Coin. I think most people can guess what's going to happen, and it may come down to something as simple as the fact that the camera kept showing Julianne Moore in medium shot. (She even raises her arms at one point.) I literally think if the scene were edited slightly differently, with more focus on Snow, it wouldn't have felt so telegraphed. I also see what you mean about J-Law looking different in the very last scene, but I don't really mind it. It's meant to feel like a different time in her life. Maybe the make-up department did some subtle things to make her look older/happier. (By the way, when I said earlier that I love this series, I was referring to these original 4 movies. I have my issues with the prequel, but I won't get into all that now.)
WastedPo
2024-09-11 01:45:19 +0000 UTCI have not watched your reaction yet but just wanted to mention that I love the irony of Prim dying near the end of this story when the story started with Katniss trying to protect her by volunteering. We also get Katniss being set on fire for real after all the imagery of her ablaze. Cruel but brilliant writing.
Christopher simeon
2024-09-10 23:00:20 +0000 UTCWell done, JLaw for that amazing hoarse voice. Equally well done Josh Hutcherson for that slow rise of crazed anger. Excellent beginning to get us thrown back into the world. Katniss, stop playing on Gale's feelings! Stop! He's already willing to die for the cause, you don't need to make him die for YOU too. I love Katniss but good God she has got to stop playing both sides. They're in a war, Gale's all in, and he still lets her pull his heartstrings knowing damn well her priority is saving Peeta. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like she loves what Gale's willing to do for her but doesn't actually love him any more than an extended family member. She actually loves Peeta because they literally fought and survived together against all odds. I do agree with Katniss though that killing absolutely is personal. Self-preservation and survival is as personal as it gets. When you choose to kill to save yourself, you're basically saying "your life isn't worth mine". Katniss talking down the miner further presses that point. Collectively choose "OUR lives are worth more than the dictatorship". Speak of the devil, cut to the Bad Guy Roundtable. You're bleeding, Antonius. Guess Snow got tired of your shit. Interesting Gale was in the middle of the pictures of Katniss's mom and sister. Was that just the set of people from her District she loved, or was Gale always deep down more of a brother than anything more? I just thought that was certainly a choice looping him with the family she had left. It wouldn't be an Irish wedding without some knee-slapping, clapping, and fiddling! I loved the moment Katniss hugged Prim during their dance. It's like she was clinging onto the last shred of happiness she had left before risking losing it entirely. This is completely stupid but I found myself wondering if this were the superhero world, would Katniss be Captain Panem instead of Captain America? Sorry, I'm an idiot LOL So now we have an unstable Peeta in a dangerous zone and Coin expects him to not act out? Nah, she's playing people just as much as Snow is. Two sides, same coin (no pun intended) The problem with telling Peeta to ask the people around him what's real or made-up is that he's been used by both sides and he knows better than anyone that viewpoints are subjective, and they just get more individualized in war time. Does anyone really know what's real? All these military types know is what their orders are and what they are told is real. And that's not on them, that's just how the cards were dealt. If it's too quiet and clean, it's dangerous. Come on, Mahershala, you were in Predators, you should know better. Props to the Capitol for inventing a literal wired oil field. The GameMakers are certainly imaginative. I guess if cost wasn't a factor, people really could come up with some weird shit. When all else fails, always pack a rocket launcher. See there's me questioning Cesar again. He could just be reporting on the newsreel he was given. I'm sure it was edited to make the Capitol look good, but just the fact he's reporting that Katniss is dead only buys her time to get done what she needs done. I don't know, I can't decide if he's just acting to keep his fancy status but actually supports the revolution or if he's just another product of the Capitol. Donald Sutherland seriously had some of the best moments in this series, both comedic and dramatic. That "plucked" moment is exactly the dry humor I loved about Donald. When he gets sassy, it's everything. Side note, love that the rebels' gear packs make them look like armadillos. It's interesting to me how Snow seems to both admire and hate Katniss which reminds me of what he told Katniss at the end of Mockingjay Part 1 - "It's the things we love that destroy us." Maybe he sees a little of himself in her fire but hates that it's being used against him instead of for him? She would be a force to be reckoned with if she was controlled by the Capitol. Luckily for everyone else, she still has her soul. Okay, no, no, no...Something starts whispering and hissing in the dark and it's an expert at hiding too, I'm going into panic mode. I would not survive this world based solely on the fact you're literally at the mercy of the most deranged people in the country. Those sewer dwellers are worse than Clickers! I hate that we lost Finnick... he just got married too... I feel so much for Katniss's mother... lost her husband in a mining disaster, her oldest daughter survived TWO Hunger Games and was almost killed multiple times fighting a war, and then her youngest dies trying to help people... The grief that poor woman carries is too, too much. Yep, I was on the fence about Coin but now realizing she literally bombed unarmed civilians, children, and Prim... she's just as evil as Snow. In some ways even worse. Should we change the name Bad Guy Roundtable to Played for Fools Table? Oh, you name yourself as Interim, do you, Coin? How very Palpatine of you. I vote no on the "symbolic" Hunger Games. It's not the kids' fault how Snow acted. But Katniss must have something up her sleeve to say yes and Haymitch knows it. Completely love that the crowd went to maul Snow and didn't act against Katniss for killing Coin. True testament to how many people really didn't trust her or even like her. Katniss saved a whole new generation from having to endure The Hunger Games. I respect when filmmakers allow the actors to "look ugly" when crying, snot and drool and the whole nine. Crying isn't pretty, grief isn't pretty, and I'm glad they allowed Katniss to have her moment of truly grieving Prim. I'm glad that we're left with a hopeful note. I wish I could say I believed humanity will learn from its mistakes but Plutarch was right. "Poor memories and a penchant for self-destruction". Humanity's kind of like someone watching reruns of Gilligan's Island, even having seen the show a hundred times, and still thinking "Maybe they'll get off the island this time." We're messy, and stupid, and brilliant and all we can do is hope. It's the only thing stronger than fear.
Nathan Jasper, the Artist Formerly Known as Primary
2024-09-10 22:03:12 +0000 UTCI remember how I stopped reading the book when Finnick died and continued it again weeks later lol. The thing with Gale is how he's such a pick me choose me love me guy after the first movie, got over him so fast. And about if mockingjay could've been one movie or not, I feel like separating the two was fine, even tho the first part is my least favorite movie, it did build up a lot of the political moves of the rebellion. Also can't wait for you to react to the prequel!
Nabila Rahmani
2024-09-10 18:11:11 +0000 UTC
