Story
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 takes up where Mockingjay Part 1 left off. The brain-washed Peeta Melark (Josh Hutcherson) is being held captive by rebel forces after failing in his attempt to kill Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence).
Unable to believe that Peeta will ever recover, Katniss offers her services to President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore). She is assigned to a special ops team making propaganda movies as the resistance forces march on the Capitol. Also in the special ops team are Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), and Finnick Odar (Sam Clafin).
Although she pretends to be committed to making propaganda movies, Katniss has her own ideas about how to stop the violence. This includes getting to President Snow’s mansion so she can assassinate him. But before Katniss can reach Snow, both she and her team must make their way through perilous traps, horrors and dangers.
After great personal loss, Katniss realises that both sides are as corrupt as each other. Once again she takes matters into her own hands to set things right.
Themes
Oppression and rebellion; extremism; self-sacrifice; brainwashing and torture; death of a family member; deaths of children
Violence
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 contains intense sequences of violence including many violent deaths, some of which are shown in a gruesome way. The movie also includes some horror violence, the death of a family member, deaths of children and executions. For example:
Sexual references
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 has some sexual references. For example:
- After a young woman kisses a young man on the lips, the man tells the woman that it was like kissing someone when they’re drunk.
- Two young men are in love with the same woman. One young man says to the other, ‘The way she kissed you, she never kissed me like that’.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
There is some use of substances in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. For example:
- Adults drink socially at a dinner party.
- A man dies during a dinner party after being poisoned.
- A young woman pulls a morphine IV from another woman’s arm and inserts it into her own arm, saying that she needs the morphine to survive. In a later scene the same woman says that she is about to steal painkillers.
- A man talks about being tortured with hallucinogenic drugs.
- Soldiers are given suicide pills.
Nudity and sexual activity
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 shows some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- A young woman kisses a young man on the lips for several seconds.
- A young woman gets into the bed of a young man. Both are fully clothed. He asks her if she loves him for real, she says she does and the pair fall asleep. The movie jumps forward several years and we see the same man and woman – the woman is cuddling a baby and the man is playing with a toddler.
- A lead female character wears a form-fitting body suit through most of the movie.
Product placement
None of concern
Coarse language
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 has occasional mild name-calling.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is the fourth and final movie in this series. It’s a fantasy action movie based on young adult fiction.
The movie is likely to attract teenagers and some younger children, but it isn’t suitable for children under 13 years and it isn’t recommended for younger teenagers. You should note that this movie is more violent and emotionally intense than previous Hunger Games movies. It deals with disturbing themes and contains gruesome deaths and several scenes that show horror-like images, which are likely to terrify children.
The main message from this movie is that it is sometimes difficult to know whether there’s any difference between the ‘bad’ guys and the ‘good’ guys. People with extreme views on either side of a political spectrum can be equally dangerous.
Values in this movie that you could talk about with older children include the following:
- Self-sacrifice for the greater good: most of the rebel fighters are willing to make personal sacrifices, including sacrificing their own lives, if it benefits others or helps the cause.
- Love: two of the main characters share a deep loving, caring and meaningful relationship.
You could also discuss what the movie suggests about the ends justifying the means. Throughout the movie, both armies are prepared to do whatever is necessary to achieve their aims, including killing innocent men, women and children.