This is a film that dares to be about something while still delivering as a piece of straightforward entertainment.

Mockingjay — Part 2 proves to be the most satisfying, gripping and emotional film in the franchise, resolving Katniss Everdeen’s odyssey with tense action sequences and a well-earned poignancy.

This might be the most downbeat blockbuster in memory, a film that starts out pitiless and goes downhill from there, save for a fleeting glimmer of hope in the final moments. It’s a bold statement about the unforgiving nature of war, unashamedly political in its motives and quietly devastating in its emotional effect.

In the genuinely shocking and surprising third act, it wades deep into the moral shades of grey at the story's core and comes out the other side with no easy solution.

Jennifer Lawrence shines once again in a fitting send-off for cinema’s best YA franchise. The hefty action and high stakes outweigh any shortcomings.