When I learned that Mockingjay Part 2, the final movie of The Hunger Games tetralogy—actually a trilogy with a 2-part third installment—was going to be graded and shown in Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR) and Atmos immersive sound, I knew I would see it in that format at my local Dolby Cinema. However, I hadn't seen the previous three movies, and I suspected that the fourth one would make no sense without them, so I hunkered down and watched The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay Part 1 before going to see Mockingjay Part 2.
I'm glad I did, because the new movie relies heavily on what happened before, as do the young-adult novels by Suzanne Collins on which the movies are based. As I watched the earlier installments, I thought the story was quite superficial and derivative of so many other such tales—a brutally repressive, overpowering military regime spawns a resistance that grows into a rebellion ultimately led by a heroic, selfless hero, in this case Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence). Sound familiar?
Yet as I watched Mockingjay Part 2, I came to appreciate some subtler dimensions, such as Katniss' ambivalence about killing even the enemy and the use of carefully designed propaganda on both sides. I especially liked how the resistance fighters shot everything on video to use in broadcast "propos," including a few staged encounters that gave Katniss pause—all very reminiscent of today's ubiquitous video coverage. In addition, the issue of brainwashing is treated interestingly, and Katniss' deep love for her family and friends is at the core of her motivation—perfect for the teen/tween audience of the original books. Finally, the climactic moment is quite a surprise, though I—and many others, I'm sure—saw it coming shortly before it actually happened.
The cast is excellent, especially Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Donald Sutherland as the deliciously evil President Snow, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Gamemaster Plutarch Heavensbee, Woody Harrelson as previous games-victor Haymitch Abernathy, Julianne Moore as rebellion President Alma Coin, and Stanley Tucci as super-smiley, over-the-top TV host Caesar Flickerman. It's wonderful to see a movie with a strong female hero who isn't sexualized, and I hope this franchise's success encourages Hollywood to represent women without trivializing and stereotyping them more often.
I was curious to see how the moviemakers dealt with Hoffman's death in February 2014, which must have been after some of the principal photography was complete, since he's in much of the first half of the movie. He appears in a couple of moments near the end thanks to what seems to be some digital trickery, and Haymitch reads a letter from Plutarch to Katniss that might have been an adaptation to the script after Hoffman's death.
But enough about the movie itself; how was the HDR? In a word, superb! The opening black interstitial and a couple near the end of the movie were absolutely pure black—completely invisible. There are lots of scenes in very dark interiors lit only with bright flashlights in the characters' hands that looked amazing with plenty of detail in the dark shadows; these scenes seemed to be shot with HDR in mind. Likewise, there are a couple of night shots—when Katniss and her cohorts leave District 13 on their first foray to another embattled district, and again when she returns home near the end of the movie—with very low APL (average picture level), and I could still see lots of detail in the landscape.
As usual after seeing an HDR movie at a multiplex, I ducked into a standard dynamic-range showing in another auditorium. And as expected, the SDR images were positively dull by comparison with much less pop than the HDR version. The showing happened to be near the end, so I got to see one of the black interstitials, which was a clearly visible gray. I also saw the low-APL shot when Katniss returns home, and there was much less visible detail.
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack was excellent, with tons of activity throughout the immersive soundfield—arrows and bullets whizzing by, aircraft overhead, the sounds of war all around. Even the music extended into the auditorium quite effectively. However, while I really like the stadium seating and cushy leather recliners in the Dolby Cinema at Prime theater at the AMC Burbank 16, the seat backs are pretty high, and each row is separated by a low wall, which seems to block the sound of the rear speakers. I'm not sure what can be done about it; I've been informed that the low walls are a legal requirement to make sure someone doesn't fall into the row in front of them.
In terms of volume levels, they were pretty high, as expected—Leq (average RMS level over the entire movie plus trailers) = 90.6 dBC , Lmax (maximum 1-second RMS level) = 118 dBC, L10 (the level stayed above this value 10% of the time) = 93 dBC, L50 (the level stayed above this value 50% of the time) = 80 dBC, L90 (the level stayed above this value 90% of the time) = 75 dBC. There were plenty of peaks in the 100 dBC range, and 32 Hz and below actually exceeded 120 dBC on at least one occasion.
I expected that Mockingjay Part 2—indeed, the entire Hunger Games saga—would not be an enjoyable movie experience for me, but I was wrong; in fact, I quite liked it. Sure, the original premise is ridiculous, and there are plenty of plot points that strain the suspension of disbelief, even if you accept the original premise. But in my view, there is some meat on these bones. And the Dolby Vision HDR version looks amazing; I hope it's among the early Ultra HD Blu-ray releases in HDR so more people can see the benefit of this technology.
Meanwhile, if you live near a Dolby Cinema location— for a list of current and upcoming locations, click here —I strongly recommend that you see Mockingjay Part 2 there. But be sure you've seen the first three movies before you go; otherwise, the story will make little sense.
I'm glad I did, because the new movie relies heavily on what happened before, as do the young-adult novels by Suzanne Collins on which the movies are based. As I watched the earlier installments, I thought the story was quite superficial and derivative of so many other such tales—a brutally repressive, overpowering military regime spawns a resistance that grows into a rebellion ultimately led by a heroic, selfless hero, in this case Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence). Sound familiar?
Yet as I watched Mockingjay Part 2, I came to appreciate some subtler dimensions, such as Katniss' ambivalence about killing even the enemy and the use of carefully designed propaganda on both sides. I especially liked how the resistance fighters shot everything on video to use in broadcast "propos," including a few staged encounters that gave Katniss pause—all very reminiscent of today's ubiquitous video coverage. In addition, the issue of brainwashing is treated interestingly, and Katniss' deep love for her family and friends is at the core of her motivation—perfect for the teen/tween audience of the original books. Finally, the climactic moment is quite a surprise, though I—and many others, I'm sure—saw it coming shortly before it actually happened.
The cast is excellent, especially Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Donald Sutherland as the deliciously evil President Snow, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Gamemaster Plutarch Heavensbee, Woody Harrelson as previous games-victor Haymitch Abernathy, Julianne Moore as rebellion President Alma Coin, and Stanley Tucci as super-smiley, over-the-top TV host Caesar Flickerman. It's wonderful to see a movie with a strong female hero who isn't sexualized, and I hope this franchise's success encourages Hollywood to represent women without trivializing and stereotyping them more often.
I was curious to see how the moviemakers dealt with Hoffman's death in February 2014, which must have been after some of the principal photography was complete, since he's in much of the first half of the movie. He appears in a couple of moments near the end thanks to what seems to be some digital trickery, and Haymitch reads a letter from Plutarch to Katniss that might have been an adaptation to the script after Hoffman's death.
But enough about the movie itself; how was the HDR? In a word, superb! The opening black interstitial and a couple near the end of the movie were absolutely pure black—completely invisible. There are lots of scenes in very dark interiors lit only with bright flashlights in the characters' hands that looked amazing with plenty of detail in the dark shadows; these scenes seemed to be shot with HDR in mind. Likewise, there are a couple of night shots—when Katniss and her cohorts leave District 13 on their first foray to another embattled district, and again when she returns home near the end of the movie—with very low APL (average picture level), and I could still see lots of detail in the landscape.
As usual after seeing an HDR movie at a multiplex, I ducked into a standard dynamic-range showing in another auditorium. And as expected, the SDR images were positively dull by comparison with much less pop than the HDR version. The showing happened to be near the end, so I got to see one of the black interstitials, which was a clearly visible gray. I also saw the low-APL shot when Katniss returns home, and there was much less visible detail.
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack was excellent, with tons of activity throughout the immersive soundfield—arrows and bullets whizzing by, aircraft overhead, the sounds of war all around. Even the music extended into the auditorium quite effectively. However, while I really like the stadium seating and cushy leather recliners in the Dolby Cinema at Prime theater at the AMC Burbank 16, the seat backs are pretty high, and each row is separated by a low wall, which seems to block the sound of the rear speakers. I'm not sure what can be done about it; I've been informed that the low walls are a legal requirement to make sure someone doesn't fall into the row in front of them.
In terms of volume levels, they were pretty high, as expected—Leq (average RMS level over the entire movie plus trailers) = 90.6 dBC , Lmax (maximum 1-second RMS level) = 118 dBC, L10 (the level stayed above this value 10% of the time) = 93 dBC, L50 (the level stayed above this value 50% of the time) = 80 dBC, L90 (the level stayed above this value 90% of the time) = 75 dBC. There were plenty of peaks in the 100 dBC range, and 32 Hz and below actually exceeded 120 dBC on at least one occasion.
I expected that Mockingjay Part 2—indeed, the entire Hunger Games saga—would not be an enjoyable movie experience for me, but I was wrong; in fact, I quite liked it. Sure, the original premise is ridiculous, and there are plenty of plot points that strain the suspension of disbelief, even if you accept the original premise. But in my view, there is some meat on these bones. And the Dolby Vision HDR version looks amazing; I hope it's among the early Ultra HD Blu-ray releases in HDR so more people can see the benefit of this technology.
Meanwhile, if you live near a Dolby Cinema location— for a list of current and upcoming locations, click here —I strongly recommend that you see Mockingjay Part 2 there. But be sure you've seen the first three movies before you go; otherwise, the story will make little sense.