This review contains spoilers for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.”
When “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” was announced, I immediately freaked out and picked up the book. I am a big believer in reading books before something gets turned into a movie or TV show. As a kid, my mom made me read all of “The Hunger Games” books before I was allowed to see the movie, so, naturally, this turned me into a huge fan. I saw all of the movies in the theater as soon as they were released and even dressed up as Katniss a few times for Halloween. Needless to say, I am a big fan of Suzanne Collins and the “Hunger Games” franchise, so when the new movie was announced, I was head over heels.
“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” released Nov. 19, 2023, is a prequel to “The Hunger Games.” The movie tells the villain origin story of Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and how the Hunger Games became the spectacle we see in the original franchise. The first half of the movie follows Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), District 12’s female tribute for the 10th Annual Hunger Games.
This movie perfectly encapsulated what I wanted out of a “Hunger Games” movie. It was frightening, even having a couple of jump scares. At the same time, it told an amazing story and got my emotions going. From the characters to the music, to the cinematography, it was perfect.
Just as any film about children murdering each other should be, this film is terrifying. It had the true feeling of a “Hunger Games” movie, especially since it had the same director as most of the original franchise movies, Francis Lawrence, who did an amazing job adapting the book to the big screen.
Characters:
In a way, Lucy Gray is the opposite of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), the protagonist from the previous films. Lucy Gray is a true performer, inside and outside of the arena. I must give an enormous amount of credit to Rachel Zegler, as she truly brought the character of Lucy Gray to life. Her acting feels like she came straight from the page. Zegler’s acting, as well as singing, did Lucy Gray the justice I don’t think anyone else could have done for her character.
Tom Blyth did an extraordinary job taking over the role of Snow from what Donald Sutherland gave him. You could truly see both sides to the character—the charismatic, genius Snow and the psychotic, obsessive Snow. His most notable performance to me was during the last part of the movie when Snow is in the forest with Lucy Gray, about to run away together. His acting was phenomenal and brought Snow’s inner monologue and thoughts to the screen, which is not easy when you can’t just simply read what is going on in the character’s mind.
This movie did a great job of making viewers even begin to sympathize with Coriolanus knowing the destruction he causes later. We see another side of him that has never been shown before as we learn about how his family is barely able to scrape by after the war and the love he has for his cousin, Tigris (Hunter Shaffer). His dialogue is especially effective to me as it is very funny.
However, we slowly see him falling apart. Tigris even told Coriolanus he looked just like his father when, at the beginning of the movie, she told him he looked nothing like him because Coriolanus’ father always had hate in his eyes. It just goes to show that we see the entire downfall of Snow from the beginning to the end. He is not the same person in the beginning of the film as he is at the end, and Blyth certainly portrayed that exceptionally well.
Story:
This movie’s portrayal of the Hunger Games and its relation to the story is much stronger than the previous movies.
The beginning of the 10th Annual Hunger Games was a lot more scary and unsettling than the beginning of the 74th Hunger Games in the first movie. We see the raw brutality of children killing other children. For the most part, this was not shown in the first “Hunger Games” movie. Rather, there is a high-pitched ringing noise, and we follow Katniss as she runs away from the Cornucopia.
In “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” the bloodbath was truly terrifying to watch. It was raw and did not shy away from showing the terror in the first few moments of the Games.
My favorite thing about the movie was that it did not feel out of place. Parts of the movie felt more like a “Hunger Games” movie than some of the scenes in the original trilogy did. It stayed true to its roots, and, in my opinion, it is the best “Hunger Games” film, only after “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”
As a fan of the novel, I loved all the foreshadowing the film included. These are things you would only notice if you had read the book or had seen the movie already. In one of the very first scenes, the movie shows rat poison, which made me instantly anticipate the moment Coriolanus gives some to Lucy Gray, helping her win in the arena.
There are also many callouts to the original franchise, from costuming to lines of dialogue. Most noticeable would be when Lucy Gray talks to Corionalus. Maude Ivory Baird (Vaughan Reily) brings Lucy Gray a “swamp potato,” to which Lucy Gray tells Corionalus she prefers to call it “katniss.” She even says, “It’s too early for katniss,” a call out meaning that Katniss Everdeen would not come for another 65 years.
Other callouts are smaller, like the katniss, primrose and snakes on Lucy Gray’s rainbow dress. Both the 10th and 75th Hunger Games arenas are destroyed representing the revolution. Coriolanus is called a rebel multiple times throughout the film, which we see in “The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay – Part 1” he refuses to use.
Soundtrack:
The soundtrack was another one of my favorite things about the movie. Many of the songs were the same as the ones heard in the original trilogy but pitched down to give it a more sinister tone. Not to mention the songs by Rachel Zegler, “Nothing You Can Take From Me” and “The Hanging Tree.” I got chills every time she sang on screen. The songs show the raw emotion coming from Lucy Gray, and Zegler really did an awesome job portraying them while singing. Another honorable mention, while not in the movie but in the end credits, is “Can’t Catch Me Now” by Olivia Rodrigo. It felt like coming full circle from Taylor Swift’s “Safe & Sound” in the first “Hunger Games” movie.
If you listen closely, when Maude Ivory and Lucy Gray are talking about the “swamp potato” katniss, you can even hear Katniss’ theme playing, an amazing choice made by the producers that gave me chills.
The movie ends just like the song “The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird,” with Lucy Gray’s footprints in the mud and disappearing, forever being a mystery. Coriolanus returns to the Capitol with a rainbow forming on the dress of the statue, just like Lucy Gray’s famous rainbow dress. In those moments, it begins to snow, a reference to the Snow family motto, “Snow lands on top.”
Conclusion:
This movie is better than some of the original franchise movies. Being a big fan of “The Hunger Games,” I have seen each movie more times than I can count. The only one that could beat “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” is “Catching Fire” because of how emotional and gut-wrenching it is to see what Katniss was put through. The “Mockingjay” movies just did not do it for me, though they were still solid movies. There’s just something so eerie and special about villain origin stories like “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” and riveting plot-turning movies such as “Catching Fire.”
This movie is one of the best movies to come out in a while. It did just what I expected it to do being a part of “The Hunger Games” franchise. If this is what all the “Hunger Games” movies and books will be like, I hope to see more from Suzanne Collins in the future.
