So it’s the final act in the series which has appeared on our screens since 2012 and has brought billions in at the bx office. Now, not having read any of the books I can only base my opinions on what I have seen and while the first movie set a decent premise and the second movie took that a step further, I didn’t really fee that the third installment gave anything further and felt like it was a stop gap to this fourth and final film.

While this does improve on the previous movie it is still a far cry from the first two films and a lot of the good characters are vastly under used. Apart for the tragically obvious need to eliminate Philip Seymour Hoffman from the main plot some of the stronger characters from the previous films such as Jena Malone as the sarcastic but deadly Johanna and Jeffrey Wright as technological genius Beetee Latier are nothing but bit part players. Even Jennifer Lawrence or the main character Katniss Everdeen seems to be dialing it in at times, when you look at what she can really do as  actress, it feels like she is as bored with this franchise as I am.

Instead we pick up straight from the end of the previous movie with Lawrence still traumatised at how her long term ally and part time love interest Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) has been turned against her so we are introduced to Squad 451 who, the rebel leader President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) has decided will be Katniss crew as she finally heads to extract her revenge on President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Some of this crew we have met before such as Finnick, Cressida and other part time love interest Gale but most of the rest are cannon fodder A, B & C but here’s the twist, Coin decides that Peeta will be brought along for the ride and the squad won’t be front line troops as Katniss is far too valuable for that, instead their journey will be used as propaganda by Coin in her revolutionary battle.

It’s on this trip to the capital that the best parts of the movie occur as the squad are picked off by trap after trap but it’s also the part that feels least like a Hunger Games movie and more like the original Resident Evil without the zombies or mansion. Also the ‘climax’ in the city feel very underwhelming and the tragedy and heartache, when it occurs, do nothing to make you feel any emotions towards the characters. In a similar vein to the final series of Harry Potter movies the whole thing felt like a cash grab.

If you have invested your time is the series then don’t leave yourself hanging and get your closure but this is a disappointing end to a franchise that started well but seemed to run out of steam.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4.5 Out Of 10