IN THE fourth and final installment of “The Hunger Games” film series, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) confronts President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in the final showdown as the nation of Panem descends into a full-scale war. Together with her group of closest friends, Katniss goes off on a pursuit to liberate the citizens of Panem and stage an assassination attempt on President Snow who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2” unveils the Capitol as it has never been seen before in film series, entering the city’s once lavishly glittering streets amid the erupting chaos of wartime.
The final chapter of “Hunger Games” also brings the film’s expansive cast together for the last time, with an ensemble including Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Sutherland, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Mahershala Ali and Natalie Dormer.
Based on the best-selling young adult novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2” now brings the franchise to its powerful final chapter in which Katniss realizes the stakes are no longer just for survival—they are for the future.
The first film, “The Hunger Games,” introduced audiences to Katniss, an independent-minded but anonymous 16-year-old girl living in District 12, one of Panem’s enslaved districts. Her life changes instantaneously when she volunteers in her younger sister’s place for the annual Hunger Games, an intense gladiatorial competition of sheer survival among 24 adolescent warriors known as “tributes.”
“She’s started to see the beauty in humanity in this film,” Lawrence said. “In the beginning she had a short view of the way things are because of her upbringing. She did not have much hope then, and she felt alone for a lot of her life. During everything that has happened —in the Games, in District 13, in the Capitol at the end of this story—she found herself more and more connected to people.”
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2” opens Nov. 18 nationwide.