Set years before the first Hunger Games film, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) as he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) in the 10th annual Hunger Games.
Almost eight years after the release of the Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2, we finally get The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. A prequel set sixty-four years before the events of the original Hunger Games trilogy. As a casual fan of the Hunger Games films, I was pretty excited for this installment. Catching Fire remains one of my favorite YA films, and I was hoping that the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes would fall into the same category, and it does, for the most part.
The movie succeeds at delivering the audience an intriguing perspective of the Hunger Games from the point of view of Coriolanus Snow, and that’s where this movie shines. It was very interesting to see how some of the traditions that we’ve seen in the previous films come to fruition, and how Snow influenced many of them. The film introduces several characters right off the bat. I was worried about how they were going to balance all these characters, and for the most part, I would say each character has their role to play and each character’s screen time is justified.
The entire cast does a great job in their respective roles. However, one of the standouts in the film was Viola Davis as Dr. Gaul. Davis steals the spotlight every time she’s on screen, but my only criticism is that there wasn’t enough of her. I was hoping that her character would have more of a villainous presence throughout the film, but Dr. Gaul sort of just fades into the background for the entire third act, and that’s where this film loses its momentum.
The first and second acts of this film move at a really nice pace, and I was really into what they were setting up. After the second act though, it feels like we slam right into a wall. There were definitely some interesting things here, and I’m not saying I hated the entire third act, but some ideas and character arcs don’t seem fully fleshed out and realized, which leads to some scenes feeling rushed. I was hoping for more of a conclusion to Lucy Gray Baird story, but her ending seems to be left more ambiguous than I would’ve liked.
Some people have also pointed out that this version of Coriolanus Snow doesn’t feel like the evil tyrant that Donald Sutherland portrayed in the original trilogy. I agree with that to an extent, but it has nothing to do with Tom Blyth’s portrayal of the character. He is actually really good in the film. The problem is the writing, and how rushed certain moments and character realizations are. In the last five minutes, we really start to see Snow become that tyrant, but I just wish they focused more on that throughout the film.
If you’re a huge fan of the Hunger Games trilogy, then this film is a must-see. If you were bummed out by the last couple of Hunger Games films, then I still recommend that you give this film a try. While it may not live up to Catching Fire, I still think it’s a worthy addition to the franchise.