Anthony's Film Review - The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

The Hunger Games prequel tells an intense story that helps one better appreciate the series...

After writing The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, author Suzanne Collins has gone back to write a novel providing the series backstory: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Naturally, that would become a movie just like the four film adaptations of the novel trilogy. And naturally, I would go see it because I saw all of those movies. Let me first give you my overall bottom-line impression. This is a good movie for sure. Surprisingly, I liked it more than the previous four movies.

Since I already described the world of Panem along with its Capitol and Districts in my reviews of the previous Hunger Games movies, I won't do that here. If you need a primer or refresher, just go to those reviews. I shall now dive into the story for those already familiar with the setting of this dystopian series. You ready? Here I go.

This film takes place several decades before the original Hunger Games trilogy. Whereas those stories take place after more than 70 annual Hunger Games have taken place, this one goes back in time to the 10th Hunger Games. This is when Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), who would someday become the heartless President of Panem, is a young man who is a student at an academy in the Capitol. He is to serve as a Mentor for one of the Tributes for the Hunger Games: Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) from District 12. The first part of this movie, of three parts in this two-and-a-half hour film, is about the preparations for the Games themselves.

Once the event begins, it's certainly what you expect: a race to grab weapons and then perform immediate kills of other contestants, before dashing off and continuing the game in more careful fashion. But it's not a total rehash of the other Hunger Games we've seen already. Because this is the 10th Hunger Games, not the 75th or whatever, two things are different. First, the technology for media broadcasting and drone delivery of supplies to Tributes is older than what we saw before. Second, the contest occurs entirely in a single spacious indoor arena, not a widespread outdoor zone.

Don't forget what I said above. This 2.5-hour movie tells a three-part story. While the moments of the 10th Hunger Games are riveting, they still comprise only the second part of the epic. The third and last part is perhaps where the real story is. This focuses mainly on Coriolanus Snow and what he does next. Ultimately, this whole movie is about him and the earlier events of the movie merely set the stage for this sequence of events. I will not go into detail because this is where, like with any movie, the audience must discover what happens here. In my opinion, this is the best part of the movie.

This Hunger Games movie works because of the intensity of the action and the emotions. The latter is made possible through solid performances. Tom Blyth plays a young Coriolanus Snow who is human, in terms of both caring for others and being shaped by experiences. Rachel Zegler is great in both acting and singing, and yes, music does have some significance in this story. Other memorable performances include those by Josh Andrés Rivera as Snow's friend Sejanus Plinth, Peter Dinklage as Dean Casca Highbottom, and Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul.

So if this ends up being the only Hunger Games prequel we have, that's fine. The story here from start to finish is complete enough to provide a background for better appreciation of the main Hunger Games trilogy. Still, if another prequel is coming to fill in the gap further, I wouldn't mind it, either. The cast did a nice job bringing their characters to life, and I'd love to see them again if there's an opportunity. Who knows? Maybe we'll have a long series that chronicles the full history of Panem and the Hunger Games. In any event, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a solid Hunger Games movie.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my review of the following:

The Hunger Games Films

The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes