The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Overview

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64 years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow sees a chance for a change in fortunes when he mentors Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12.

I couldn't help wondering if Francis Lawrence had just asked for that "Tom fella..." "You know..." The casting director didn't realise he meant that "Tom fella" from "Harry Potter" and got Tom Blyth instead. There's an uncanny resemblance with the blonde floppy hair and the rather linear facial expressions. Indeed, despite a promising (if frustrating) shower scene at the top of the film, Blyth ("Coryo") is really what drags this otherwise quite decent action adventure film down. Rachel Zegler, on the other hand, is full of enthusiasm as her "Lucy Gray" character is selected to fight for District 12 in the "Hunger Games". Meantime, "Dean Highbottom" (the infrequently used Peter Dinklage) has come up with a way to spike the dwindling television ratings. He has decided to allocate one of his top students to mentor each of the captives. Yep - "Coryo" is put with "Lucy Gray". A bit of sabotage changes the nature of the game and gradually our hero starts to wonder if he is on the right side - especially when he becomes a little too emotionally involved with his protégé and attracts the enmity of his own erstwhile mentor. Luckily, the whole scenario is being overseen by the hammily menacing "Volumnia Gaul" (Viola Davis) who is clearly having a ball with industrial scale make up and a barrel of genetically modified snakes. The last twenty minutes smacks a little too much of sequel building, but this film has plenty of action and intrigue, loads of back-stabbing and just a little moralising. Zegler delivers a few folky style ballads confidently and generally does a lively enough job keeping it quite a bit better than I was expecting. It needs a cinema, though - the grand scale effects and photography work best that way. On the television it will probably just come across as a bit derivative.

austinmgray wrote:

one of the best installments to the Hunger Games series. it’s definitely the darkest and most political entry to the saga. act III could have been more fleshed out, but it doesn’t detract from the story the film is telling. act III was the most compelling segments in aspects of Coriolanus Snow’s villain origins. if you're a fan of political dramas or a character study or just a huge fan of the Hunger Games series, this is the film for you. excellent casting, excellent music, and deliciously evil performances.

Imon Reza wrote:

With its heartbreaking origin story that depicts the fall of President Snow, **The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes** is the ideal masterpiece of a frightening origin story collection. The adaptation of the novel to the movie was done so well that it is really remarkable. A very high quality cinematography is present. Rachel Zegler is the personification of Lucy Gray, while Tom Blyth is a leading man. What an amazing experience it was! The whole auditorium was sitting on the edge of their seats, completely silent, and just appreciating the movie. Everything in the film was flawless, including the narrative, the acting, the music, and the allusions. In the first place, I feel it is necessary to offer my daughter, Rachel Zegler, some praise. Her performance as Lucy Gray gave the impression that she had actually torn her off the page. Rachel did a wonderful job of portraying Lucy Gray, who was the epitome of perfection, and I don't believe anybody else could have achieved the same level of success. Rachel's singing is even more incredible than her acting, by a significant margin. It is common knowledge that Rachel is an incredible vocalist, but the way she sings in this film leaves me feeling as if I had never heard her voice before. She is such a powerhouse of an actor, and I am so thrilled to watch her succeed in this production. The fact that she sang everything live on set is another reason why I am so proud of her. In my view, this is without a doubt her finest performance so far. Following that, I feel compelled to call attention to the outstanding performance that Tom Blyth gave as Snow. He did a fantastic job of taking what Donald Sutherland had done with the role and giving it his own spin while still making it his own interpretation of the character. On Snow, Tom was able to bring out both the charming and the insane aspects of her personality. I found his acting to be particularly noteworthy in the third act of the movie, particularly the moment in which he was seen in the woods with Lucy Gray. The manner in which Tom was able to incorporate everything of Snow's inner monologue that is shown to us in the novel into his facial expressions was absolutely stunning. He did an excellent job in this function. When it comes to this film, there are a lot of other things that I could simply enthuse about. Every single one of the other performers had outstanding performances, and they were all outstanding. On top of that, the music is really fantastic. It is impossible for me to adequately express why I feel the desire to have the music of this movie infused into my veins. The soundtrack was so powerful that it brought tears to my eyes even at the very beginning of the film, when there was nothing that was really occurring at that point!!!! In addition, I would like to draw attention to the outstanding costume design that was done for this film. This movie brought us back into the realm of Panem, and it seemed as if we had never left! There were so many things and individuals that worked together to make this happen. The movie was really stunning, thanks to the stunning performances, locations, costumes, and music that Olivia Rodrigo contributed, among other things. Since the first nostalgic film in the series, which was released in 2012 and starred Jennifer Lawrence as the legendary songbird mockingjay herself, Katniss Everdeen, this has quickly become my favorite installment in the series. All things considered, this is a smashing success for moviegoers and movie aficionados alike; you should not miss it when it is shown on the big screen.

hamfaceman wrote:

This movie was sooooo long and had way too much singing, a bunch of which was very cringey. The romance between Snow and Lucy wasn't believable at all and I guess Snow was just a total psychopath all along anyway, so maybe that part was intentional. Anyway, it was all pretty boring and the actual "hunger games" in this one were really lame and uninspired. I don't recommend putting this ham on your face.

r96sk wrote:

I was thoroughly enjoying this... until it absolutely nosedives during the latter half. 'The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' starts off so strongly, continuing at a pleasant pace as it encompasses the Hunger Games itself. However, from the end of the event it truly does drop off a cliff out of nowhere. The film gives you a major high of action with the games, then drops the tempo down to such a slow first act-esque pace that it feels extremely tacked on. I did enjoy the cast throughout, mostly. Tom Blyth is excellent, first time I've seen him properly in a film and I was very impressed; though even his performance suffers with the aforementioned, which for him is from the point that he becomes The Real Slim Shady, seemingly (his originally look is so much better). Still, I'm eager to see that guy act further. Rachel Zegler is largely good, though does chew the scenery quite a bit in parts; predominantly when singing. Viola Davis is great, while Peter Dinklage is underused but still a positive. Jason Schwartzman and Josh Andrés Rivera, meanwhile, are solid enough supports. Just a shame about the final act. It's not necessarily that bad in itself, but to lower the pace that sharply after such prolonged thrill is a recipe for disaster. So much so that it makes the whole part drag hard, or perhaps 'twas just so for me?

Dean wrote:

Great movie. Hunger games never disappoint.