Trailer Park: The Hunger Games: Mockingjy - Part 2's First Trailer

In which I discuss the latest movie trailers.

It's been a long time in coming, but it's finally here: the first, real Mockingjay - Part 2 teaser trailer.  After three movies, four years and considerable franchise fatigue, I have to give credit where credit is due.  It's a doozy.  Watch it here:

I've made it pretty clear in the past that Mockingjay was easily my least favorite of the novels.  In fact, the second half of it - the half that the latest movie is adapted from - is hands down the most offensively bad of all.  What should have been an epic finale to well-spun narrative was a supreme letdown: forgetting on every page who the character of Katniss actually was and what made her such an endearing figure to begin with.

I'm still not entirely sure how they managed it, but the storming of the Capitol - the climax of the entire series - bordered on boring on every page.  The unwarranted romance between Katniss and Peeta was constantly shoved down our collective throats and character deaths, although tragic, were something less than memorable.  Despite loving Catching Fire, I have willfully stuck with rereading The Hunger Games by itself solely because of the disappointing note that the series ultimately ends on.

Like Mockingjay - Part 1, however, everything in the movie's marketing suggests that it's going to be one Hell of a ride: an inevitable improvement on its source material (which, sadly, probably isn't all that hard to do).  The teaser plays up the action sequences that were perplexingly downplayed in the novel and downplays the romantic angst that was omnipresent in the original narrative.

Jennifer Lawrence looks as fantastic as Katniss as she ever has (despite having to recite Suzanne Collins' clunky dialog).  Francis Lawrence's scope appears to be as grandiose as it was in Part 1 and the trailer hits all of the right cues that clue us in on the fact that characters (and their sacrifices) will not be taken as lightly as they were the first time around.  In short, Mockingjay - Part 2 looks every bit as excellent of a story as the novel should have been, and that's something to get excited about.

So while I'm still admittedly nervous about the direction of the final film in the increasingly inaccurately named Hunger Games Trilogy, I do have grounds for cautious optimism.  Francis Lawrence is a smart guy and seems to have a good grasp on what scenes from the books can be dropped, which can be salvaged and what new ones were needed in the first place.  I have faith that he - and the film's absolutely resplendent cast - can drive the series home with gusto.

So what did you think of Mockingjay?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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