Lessons learned from 'The Hunger Games'

"You root for your favorite, you cry when they get killed. It's sick. No one watches and they don't have a game. It's as simple as that." — Gale, "The Hunger Games"

The final installment of "The Hunger Games" has been out for about two weeks, and it brought to a close a story that played out over four films. I loved the first installment of "The Hunger Games," and enjoyed all the movies and the themes they explored. But I felt like the fourth film was a bit of a let down.

There are two types of film series. There is the kind where — while all the individual films are good — the whole thing comes together with a crescendo in the final installment. An example of that, for me, is "The Lord of the Rings." I liked each film, but the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.

Then there is another kind of franchise — one where the first installment builds the world and sets the themes, but ends up being the best of the series. Think of "The Matrix" here. The original "Matrix" film is an incredible revelation. What follows in the second and third parts doesn't add to that legacy so much as it just meanders along.

"The Hunger Games" franchise doesn't hit the lows of "The Matrix Reloaded," but to me it still slides off as it concludes. I was so drawn to the power of the ideas and the template provided in the first film, that I expected something grand as it concluded. That doesn't happen. But there is still plenty to think about.

In the first film, we get a lot of hard questions asked about society. Suzanne Collins — who wrote the books — seems like a keen observer of the dangerous trajectory of our contemporary culture. That's what makes "The Hunger Games" so striking. And in the second and third films, we see an honest look at a revolution being led by a teenage girl with a raging case of survivor's guilt and PTSD. It's rough to watch some times, but it's certainly realistic and compelling.

So the question is, what does the final film want to explore. There are new themes, and fitting themes in the film. And it is probably a logical conclusion to the ideological exploration that these films have sought to achieve.

First is the idea that you have to be careful when you fight evil that it doesn't impact you. “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche I thought about that quote when thinking about Gale, and his arc.

In the first film, Gale is opposed to the violence and killing. He just wants it to end. But as he's drawn into war with District 13, his kindness and humanity begins to fade. He turns, in some ways, cold, and it's not something that escapes Katniss' notice. To me, that was heartbreaking. The idealistic, sacrificial Gale from the first installment is lost along the way.

Second, I think the movie brings forward the idea that we should be weary of those who seek to take power as they are often the ones who should least have it. That is true of Alma Coin, President of District 13, who at first appears as a savior. But by the end, she turns out to be nothing more that President Snow from another place. She is the architect of a savage plan to win the war and, once in power, begins to act just as Snow had.

Finally, I think we come away with the idea that nothing good comes of war. We begin this story with innocent and strong Katniss, who is willing to trade all that to protect her sister. Brutally, after years of violence and war that left her with scars — both physical, psychological, and emotional — she sees her sister killed in a cruel final salvo in the war.

Katniss permanently damaged herself, and for what? Countless died, and for what? We're not left with any certainty that Pan Em is a better place than it was before the war. They have peace, but a seemingly temporary piece for a damaged and broken people.

As I said, these themes resonated as befitting the story, while at the same time feeling like a sour note to end an otherwise engrossing 10 hours of screen saga. I loved "The Hunger Games," but I merely liked "The Hunger Games" saga.