Like Harry Potter and Twilight before it, The Hunger Games started out as a highly successful series of novels. Of course, it wasn't long before Hollywood took notice, and The Hunger Games soon became one of the most successful book-to-movie adaptations ever. It was a surprisingly dark tale for mainstream movie-goers - the story is about pitting kids against each other in a lethal battle royale, after all - but the world, action and characters turned The Hunger Games into a global phenomenon.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end: last year's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 kickstarted the series' finale, and Mockingjay - Part 2 is due out later this year. Unfortunately, many thought that the first film of the finale was merely treading water, as if the producers were hoping to save all of the good stuff for the second movie. That's not to say it was a bad film, it just didn't necessarily live up to the hype that surrounded it.
Well, the first trailer for the final entry in the series is here, and if it's anything to go by, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 will definitely make up for any lack of action in the first part:
Going by the trailer alone, it'd be easy to assume that the final Hunger Games film is a straight-up action/war movie: the teaser is all about the resistance rising up to finally take down the Capitol (and explosions)...and it'll be interesting to see if the trailer is representative of the final movie.
The Hunger Games have always been known for the story and the action, though the scale here definitely favors the high-octane setpieces. The trailer could be a response to critics who accused the first movie of focusing too heavily on exposition, or it could be a case of the studios hoping to grab people's attention with gratuitous fireballs. Either way, it looks like Mockingjay - Part 2 will have a much heavier emphasis on action...let's just hope that the story isn't sacrificed in order to make room for more high explosives.
There's still a ways to go before Katniss' story comes to a close: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 will debut in theaters on Nov. 20.
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