The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Starring: Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Viola Davis, Fionnula Flanagan, Hunter Schafer, Joshua Kantara, Ayo Adegum, Josh Rivera, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman,
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
2023

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: During the 10th annual Hunger Games, young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) mentors a District 12 tribute (Rachel Zegler) and begins to develop feelings for her.

Review:

Tim: A bit of my background with this franchise- I've seen all four movies and I read the original trilogy by Suzanne Collins. When her next book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes came out, I reluctantly read it. The idea of putting Coriolanus Snow, the worst villain of the original trilogy as the protagonist of this new novel felt like a bad move. Why in the world would I care about this character? Now, Collins might not be the greatest writer in the world, but I was shocked that I genuinely enjoyed the novel. It was a bit lengthy, but I got caught up in the story and characters. I enjoyed the book far more than I expected. So, I was optimistically looking forward to the film adaptation. This film is a worthwhile adaptation, and while it's not as good as the first two movies, it's at least on par with the second two. It has flaws, but it's still an enjoyable film.

One note about this film and the story- I really appreciated how the story expands the franchise. I'm not the biggest fan of prequels, but there is some value in telling stories like this. I think the realistic expectation is that these films are never must-see events like the main storyline. That's the case here. The story is intriguing, especially if you want to see more of Panem, but there's nothing here that screams "must see". This shows up in the box office results. The first two movies with Katniss were box office smashes, doing over $400 million domestically. Splitting the final book into two hurt the potential, as film three dropped to $337 and the final film had a disappointing $281 million tally. Eight years later, though, this film delivered only $166 million domestically. I know it's a different world in 2023 than 2015, but it's telling how much this franchise fell off. That context is important- this is a good movie, but the last two films didn't help this franchise, nor did the lengthy sit on the shelf.

Now, as far as The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the movie is solid. Director Francis Lawrence directed the last three films and he knows his way around the arena. This movie is undoubtedly too long (2 hours, 37 minutes?) but it does deliver a fairly faithful adaptation of Collins' novel. Some allowances need to be made for that. Snow is an intriguing character. I liked him less in the film than the novel, but his story is interesting, especially when you consider how he changes from the boy we see here to the menace in the later films. It's also interesting to see the less-spectacle Hunger Games. This prequel shows before much of the pomp and pageantry begins. That's something we haven't seen on screen before, and it was entertaining to see this stage of the Games.

The cast was interesting, but I wouldn't call them a huge strength. I thought Tom Blyth was solid as Snow. It's a challenging role and I thought he gave a generally good performance- we don't love Snow, but he don't completely hate him at this point in his life, either. Blyth mostly walks the line between these two appropriately. I'm not sure he did anything that wowed me, but he doesn't detract from the film. He worked. I have to say, I'm not a big fan of Rachel Zegler. I think she's a great singer but not a good actress. A big reason why the novel works well is because Lucy Gray Baird is such an endearing character. I don't believe Zegler captured anything that makes this character special. Zegler isn't bad, but she doesn't have much chemistry with Blyth. I never believed her performance. She's not terrible, but the movie suffers because Zegler isn't great in the role.

Viola Davis is solid, but a bit over-the-top in her role. She mostly works, but is extreme. I suppose this is an accurate representation of the character from the book, so it's fine. Josh Rivera is solid. I loved seeing Peter Dinklage here. He doesn't have much to do, but his presence is always welcome. Jason Schwartzman was brilliantly cast as Lucky Flickerman- truly, this was inspired casting. As a whole, the cast is fine, if a bit unremarkable.

The story and the action work well. The scenes in the Arena are fairly exciting, although much more of the drama takes place outside. There's enough nerve-racking moments to hold our attention. I did think it was an interesting choice of Collins in the novel and obviously, this movie, to focus less on the Arena. Lucy Gray is a good character, but she's no Katniss Everdeen. Still, there's enough intense sequences to keep us interested. It's definitely a quirk of this film that the real drama takes place elsewhere, though. I didn't expect that going into the novel.

In the end, I liked The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. It doesn't add a ton to the franchise, but it represents another solid entry. In some ways, it works better than the absurd splitting of Mockingjay into two less effective films. This movie will give fans of the franchise an entertaining reason to return to Panem, although it clearly didn't attract hordes of new fans. I'm sure Lionsgate wishes the movie did much better at the box office, but this revival of the franchise wasn't a failure.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Hunger Games, West Side Story (2021)