REVIEW: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

Movie Reviews

I don’t have much of a history with The Hunger Games franchise. I saw all four movies in theaters, but it was for my sister, who read all the books and loved Katniss. But I never read them myself, and I don’t regularly re-watch the films or anything like that. When a prequel film was announced, I was absolutely not impressed. Prequels are usually a terrible idea, especially regarding YA or fantasy movie franchises. I’m just about prequel’d out between The Hobbit (which, in fairness, came out first in book form) and Fantastic Beasts. The presence of Rachel Zegler only made things look worse for this film. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt when she first received criticism for accepting the role of Snow White, but I’ve had enough of her. Regardless, I saw the movie with my family. Let’s see if this is another dud or a diamond in the rough. 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes finds young Coriolanus Snow (Dexter Sol Ansell) and his sister Tigris (Rosa Gotzler) struggling to stay alive. When the war between the Districts and the Capital ends, they learn that their father has been murdered and move in with their grandmother. This doesn’t solve all the children’s problems, however, as Grandm’am (Fionulla Flanagan) doesn’t have a cent to her name. Ten years later, Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) is ready to graduate high school in the Capital when a drastic change is made to the rules of the Hunger Games. Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) and Dean Caska Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) announce that each tribute from the twelve Districts will receive a mentor, a graduating student from Corio’s academy. He’s assigned to Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), a runt girl from District 12. It’s up to him to turn Lucy into someone the Capital citizens will root for, cry for, and love. But can he keep her alive? Does he even want to? 

To say I was surprised by this film would be an understatement. I enjoyed the Hunger Games movies well enough but didn’t love them, and I was hardly chomping at the bit for more. Much like the central deadly championship, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a spectacle you can’t look away from. From the film’s first shot, I felt myself drawn into Coriolanus’ struggles and rooting for him despite what we all know he becomes. If you don’t know, this is baby President Snow (Donald Sutherland) from the original movies. Director Francis Lawrence, the writers, and Tom Blyth do a sublime job of taking this bright-eyed young man to dark places. It’s easy at first to wonder how this kid could be the same cold, manipulative beast Sutherland played, but the development is natural and convincing. The movie is written by Michael Arndt and Michael Lesslie, in addition to being based on Suzanne Collins’s novel. Michael Arndt has worked on Pixar films Toy Story 3 and Inside Out, previous Hunger Games installments, The Force Awakens, and more. Not all of these credits are encouraging, but I recognized his name, and this was why. Francis Lawrence directed all of the Hunger Games films except for the first one, which is my second least favorite of the bunch. Lesslie also wrote Assassin’s Creed and The Little Drummer Girl. 

Casting was always a strength of this franchise. Actors like Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci, Julianne Moore, and Philip Seymour Hoffman greatly elevated standard YA dystopian material. The same is true here, although I find this story more interesting. I’ll get into this in a bit. Viola Davis is absolutely loving this mad scientist role, and she eats it up, too. I never would have imagined her in a part like this, but it’s genius casting. Peter Dinklage is always good, and his role here is no exception. Rachel Zegler is undoubtedly talented, which is unfortunate because she’s so annoying outside of the cinema. Her singing is on full display here, and it’s really good except for one scene, and I think that was the intention in said moment. She’s good as Lucy and has good chemistry with Blyth, but not too much. Snow can’t be too fleshed out, or his endpoint would be too unbelievable. I absolutely have to talk about Hunter Schafer! She plays Jules in Euphoria and is one element I actually was pretty curious about. She plays adult Tigris, Coriolanus’ loving sister. He loves her and Grandm’am, although, at times, I wonder if it’s not as much as he should. Tigris remarks relatively early in the film that Coriolanus can be his own man; he doesn’t have to be the living embodiment of their father. This is another facet of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes that works in its favor: planting and pay-off. This film excels at leaving little implications and lines of dialogue that come back in big ways. 

I liked Katniss well enough, but characters like President Snow and Coin (Julianne Moore) interest me more. As such, I find the plot more engaging here than in some of the Hunger Games movies. That being said, Catching Fire went hard from start to finish. Anyway, I went into this movie with some questions. Was President Snow really in love at some point? Would this film show a human, feeling side of him that went unexplored in the mainline movies? Some of the answers surprised me, but a few characters really took me aback. The people who seem like villains initially may not be all that bad, and vice versa. We know Snow is bad news by the end; he has to be, given what happens in the other movies. But Dean Highbottom, Dr. Gaul, and some others are up in the air, to an extent. Again, I haven’t read the book, so I didn’t know what to expect. The writing and performances of these characters really bring something unique to this film. 

If you had told me that a Hunger Games prequel would be far and away better than the Barbie movie and every Disney movie released in 2023, I wouldn’t have believed you. This movie was unnecessary and came a few years too late; it also contains one of my least favorite celebrities. However, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a lot of fun and has something worthwhile to say. This is a production that seems very well planned, and every little piece fits into place perfectly. I would recommend this movie to anyone who has seen the other movies.