Rated M for mature themes, violence and a horror sequence, the final instalment of the uber-popular Hunger Games trilogy is more scary movie than young adult adventure.

In the fourth film of the series, the situation in Panem has worsened.

Under cruel dictator President Snow, the disparity between the upper and lower classes is extreme and revolt is occurring in even the farthest corners of society.

At the centre of it all is our troubled heroine, Katniss, who has somehow ended up as the face of the revolution, placing all of her loved ones at extreme risk.

Dressed in black and brandishing machine guns, Katniss and the other victors face armoured, all-white guards, horrifying genetically engineered monsters and a maze of deadly traps in their efforts to overthrow the Capitol.

Readers of the book will know this was never going to be a fairytale ending.

Suzanne Collins’ bestselling books, despite being billed as young adult novels, tackle themes far beyond the realm of most 15-year-olds.

This is unsurprising, given Collins took inspiration from coverage of the Iraq war juxtaposed with the spectacle of reality television.

There’s the notion of killing for sport which dominated the first two films, then the corruption of power and the concept of martyrdom which began to permeate the penultimate movie.

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Mockingjay Part 2 adds open warfare, gruesome injuries, grief and betrayal into the mix, making it far closer to the MA15+ end of the spectrum than the PG13 end.

In one scene, a character has his legs blow off. In another, creepy alien “mutts” chase Katniss and her fellow victors through underground sewers.

In one of the most heart wrenching scenes in the books and in the film, a main character is suddenly killed off, with little fanfare or warning.

Adding to the desolation is the knowledge that Philip Seymour-Hoffman passed away before completing his role as head game maker Plutarch Heavensbee, a tragedy neatly handled by the film’s producers.

Liam Hemsworth and Jennifer Lawrence play teenagers caught in wide-scale rebellion.

None of this is to say Mockingjay Part 2 is a bad movie. Donald Sutherland and Julianne Moore deliver nuanced, powerful performances and the look and feel of the film is impressively elaborate even before you add the effects of CGI.

Fans who have followed the series the whole way through will be unable to look away from the gripping action, which commences in the opening moments and doesn’t abate until the film’s final minutes.

However, what will stay with you — and most likely your children if you dare to take them with you — is the relentless violence.

If that doesn’t stick, the bleak moral of the story will.

Essentially, Mockingkay‘s message is that the world is a cruel place, with little rhyme or reason and rarely any redemption.

In trying times like these, it’s not necessarily a misleading message but nor is it an entertaining one.

So for your next family night out, probably best to stick with Pixar to avoid a week of nightmares.