FRANCIS LAWRENCE

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BB.5.  USA/Germany, 2015.  Color Force, Lionsgate, Studio Babelsberg.  Screenplay by Peter Craig, Danny Strong, adaptation by Suzanne Collins, based on her novel.  Cinematography by Jo Willems.  Produced by Nina Jacobsen, Jon Kilik.  Music by James Newton Howard.  Production Design by Philip Messina.  Costume Design by Kurt and Bart.  Film Editing by Alan Edward Bell, Mark Yoshikawa.  

The nonsense continues in this conclusion to the trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins, which like many of the adventure sagas aimed at young people ends with far more self-important sobriety than it began with. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) was informed in the first film that she’s going to have to fight on behalf of the rebellion looking to free Panem from the tyranny of evil President Donald Sutherland. In this one, she does, while also discovering more complexity to the seemingly supportive President Julianne Moore and repairing her relationship with her beloved Peta. A few good chase sequences and a terrific cast do nothing for a plot that is just a collection of dramatic clichés with little imagination or sympathy.