I recently watched all of the Hunger Games films. I really enjoyed them while not expecting to, and having never read the novels they are based on, didn't think they would be as bleak as they were. I particularly liked the final one, which apart from the moral wrangling over what is deemed to be acceptable or necessary behaviour in war, was helped by the look and feel of the evacuated parts of the Capitol as the rebel army closed in on the government, with its Soviet-style buildings that could belong on 1930s architectural plans or in the realised central parts of 1950s Moscow, although as seen in earlier films even the Victors' Village that's seen better days in the monochromatic coal mining district was like a pavilioned exhibition centre in the old USSR. The only thing that didn't quite fit was the ending, that final few minutes (I guess on how to deal with the mental trauma of war haunting you in the present, which isn't as 'happy' an ending as it might appear). Mockingjay parts one and two could also have just been one film, but I guess more money could be rinsed from the making of two.
Reno will be along soon to contradict me on something (and I do enjoy reading your posts).
