Watch the 'Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2' trailer
The closer we get to fall, the closer we get to the end of an era. With the release of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2" this November, the massively popular saga draws to a close. We’ve seen a few innocuous pictures from the impending blockbuster, but now they’ve dropped an exciting first trailer in our laps. Check it out for yourself below.
When we last left Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Gale (Liam Hemsworth), and the rest of the citizens of the dystopian world of Panem, they were on the brink of war and things were getting grim. Hiding out in the underground bunkers of District 13, which until then they thought had been destroyed, the heroes were bombed, had a massive propaganda campaign waged against them, and Katniss was trying to cope with the trauma inflicted upon her over the course of the first two films. Oh, and then there was the whole brainwashed Peeta trying to kill her thing. That’ll bum you out.
Splitting the final book in Suzanne Collins’ best-selling young adult trilogy into two movies, "Mockingjay—Part 2" sets into motion the final clash between the rebel forces, fronted by Katniss, and the entrenched powers of the Capital and the vicious President Snow (Donald Sutherland). The film has even been described as a "war movie," and while there's not a ton of action in this trailer (though you get a nice taste), there is definitely a great deal of build up, cranking up the tension until it explodes, or overflows in a viscous black goo as the case may be. One thing is abundantly clear, the time for talking has passed, and "Mockingjay—Part 2" promises to be a very different movie with a very different tone.
If the plot of director Francis Lawrence’s adaptation follows what we read in the book, something you can’t particularly tell from this quick look, "Mockingjay—Part 2" should be a rather adventurous time. It does certainly look that way from this new footage. While "Part 1" did have some big action sequences, it was more about setting up the final conflict and establishing the character’s state of mind, especially figuring out where Katniss is, which is not always the best place. You can see that she definitely has revenge on her mind as she intones that Snow has to pay for what he's done and leads her squad into a daring raid on the Capital.
I’m especially curious to watch these two movies together as a single story. That was one of the biggest issues with the last film, it was just such an obvious first piece of something larger that it was unsatisfying to watch. At the end it felt like the screen should have flashed "To Be Continued…" and you should tune in next week for the exciting conclusion.
We’ll get that chance later this year when "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2" hits theaters on November 20.
