The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Those who didn’t see its predecessor shouldn’t bother with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 — not that they’d be tempted, anyway.

There are no formal introductions or background explainers for confused newcomers. Rather, this is a franchise finale made specifically for the legions of devoted fans of prior films and the Suzanne Collins novels upon which they’re based.

Yet while many of those aficionados will no doubt enjoy one last rousing go-around with these characters, this is a contrived and lumbering effort in which the payoff fails to match the extensive build-up.

Perhaps that’s a product of the final book being split into two movies, and based on the evidence, that decision appears to be more financially than creatively motivated.

At any rate, the story picks up where the previous Mockingjay film left off, with the rebels from Panem, reluctantly led by archer Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), in the midst of a full-scale uprising against a barbaric regime led by the sadistic President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

As loyalties are tested and a final showdown looms, Katniss is joined on her march to the Capitol by confidants including Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) in seeking a liberated state under a new leader (Julianne Moore). But the escalating war tests both her skills and her will, especially when it endangers her little sister Prim (Willow Shields), whose protection was the primary motivation for all this activism in the first place.

The perilous adventure is darker and more morally complex than previous installments, as the young protagonists feel more grown up and the stakes are higher than ever. So it’s unfortunate the climax, as presented, lacks sufficient emotional resonance.

As you’d expect, it’s technically proficient, as director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) and his team empty the chamber in terms of visual effects and action set pieces. And the film retains the strong sociopolitical subtext of the previous efforts with its grassroots crusade against working-class oppression.

Lawrence, whose career trajectory has changed significantly since the release of the first Hunger Games film in 2012, again conveys plenty of appeal as the tough-minded heroine who exhibits courage and resilience in the face of impossible odds.

However, while The Hunger Games remains the standard-bearer in the current trend of post-apocalyptic, young-adult franchises, the freshness of the concept is now gone, and the slick finale doesn’t stand on its own.

Rated PG-13, 136 minutes.