Reluctant symbol of the revolution, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) leads a small group of freedom fighters into Panem to try and assassinate the wicked President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

When they split Mockingjay into 2 parts, presumably for no other reason than financial gain, there was always the concern that the story would be far too drawn out (as with The Hobbit). And despite several decent action scenes (including booby-trap pods, a tidal wave of tar, and a mutt attack) that's precisely what has happened: at a whopping 137 minutes, this last film in the series feels like the proverbial dead horse has been well and truly flogged.

I watched purely for the sake of completion, but at no point did I feel involved in the story or engaged with the characters. I just sat there waiting for the whole thing to end so I could move on to something else. A shame, because if they had taken the good bits from both Mockingjay movies and combined them into one (slightly longer) film, it might have been the best of the series and a fitting finalé for Katniss and co.

Finally, I've got to the end of this series and I am going to be glad that there are no more movies to look forward to. Mind you, there is the Allegrant series, but then again I feel that I am at that stage where I am going to pretty much ignore the final one in the series because, well, there is nothing all that different between that one and this one. Okay, this one was a little darker than the Allegrant series, though the Maze Runner movies were, I have to admit, somewhat better. Anyway, I'm not so much talking about those movies, but this one, in particular why they decided to split the final book into two. Well, I guess because Twilight and Harry Potter did it, so they probably should as well. Also, I'm glad that somebody bought the Hunger Games box set at the church fate because after watching these movies I would be regretting spending the money on it.

Well, Peter has been rescued, but it turns out that they had been torturing him, and he isn't the Peter that Katnis once new. Well, the fact that he tried killing her at the end of the last movie does suggest that. So, somewhat upset at President John Snow (who as a bad guy, really doesn't come across all that well), Katnis decides to go and kill him, however Coin won't let her leave the compound due to her being too precious. Well, she sneaks out anyway, and through the use of surveillance Coin discovers this (tell be again how these rebels are any different). So, the old gang gets pack together for a final strike against the headquarters of John Snow (that name keeps on reminding me of the really cool Game of Thrones character – couldn't Collins have picked a different name).

As it turns out (I've used this a lot in these reviews), the entire city has been booby trapped with bombs that explode in particular ways, and they have a holo generator that tells them where they are. Thus the movie has them pass one bomb, step into another wiping out half the party, and then getting caught up in a third one which wipes out all but a handful. Then they make a mad dash towards the citadel only to be caught up in a bombing raid.

Anyway, all I can say about this film is that it was predictable – very, very predictable. In fact when it came to the end and Coin declared herself interim president or an indefinite period I simply rolled my eyes. Seriously, couldn't it have been a lot more dramatic. As for the ending, well, it just took forever to end. Seriously, it could have been much more effective, and much more dramatic than it really was. In fact, as I watch the film come to an end all I could say is that I'm not surprised that the film ended the way it did because, well, all the other endings were pretty horrible as well.

A commando unit is sent into the Capitol, now under siege, partially evacuated, overrun by refugees and entirely empty of glory and every bit splendor having faded to shades of grey. Their mission is to put an end to the tyranny. To assassinate President Snow(Sutherland, deliciously evil).

There are entirely too many characters, and darlings that have been left alive, in the least critically trimmed of the four films - this feels strangely disconnected from the others. The production values, talent and scope on display fail to distract from that. As a final chapter, it's fair. Almost every single farewell feels flat and rushed. Essentially, no one has anything to do, not to mention that the new ones, thankfully largely undeveloped anyway, are utterly superfluous. Everyone in the love triangle do find themselves in extreme emotional situations, and certainly the still unstable and potentially homicidal Peeta makes for an immensely interesting element. But it is only with these three, and these two parts could and should have remained one three-hour picture.

The themes are explored rather well, and this fits in an impressive amount of solidly done fiercely political, anti-war messages that are surprisingly relevant, considering it's all there in the book, which came out in 2010. It is clear that this wants to motivate for real-life campaigning to affect foreign policy, and one can only hope it does just that. Satire, clever writing and excitement yet again come through and elevate what might otherwise be "good... for YA" to a truly compelling piece that truly has something to say.

There is a lot of brutal, disturbing violent content in this, pushing the PG-13 rating about as far as it can be. I recommend this to any fan of the series. 8/10