The Hunger Games | The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Review: Grim Prequel to an Already-Grim Story

Summary

• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is an exciting prequel to The Hunger Games franchise with a stacked cast and a catchy soundtrack.
• Tom Blyth delivers a standout performance as young Coriolanus Snow, and the shaved head adds to his character’s development.
• The film features excellent performances from Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage, but could have benefited from more screen time for these talented actors.

As a fan of the books and first couple of movies, I was excited to revisit The Hunger Games franchise with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, especially after learning that Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt (Catching Fire, Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) was back to help with the script. And it shows, though nothing beats the first Jennifer Lawrence installments. The internet is already aflame with reactions to the prequel detailing the infamous villain Snow’s rise to power. Featuring a stacked cast and soundtrack with songs from Olivia Rodrigo and more, returning franchise director Francis Lawrence’s new prequel is definitely something for loyal fans and perhaps even those simply looking for an introduction to see what the franchise is about. And at a whopping 165 minutes, it will definitely bring you into its world.

The Hunger Games Before Katniss

64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered for the Games on behalf of her lowly district, there was young Coriolanus Snow, later deemed the king, and played with ultimate conniving sleaze by Oscar winner Donald Sutherland in the acclaimed 2012 film. In the latest installment, the younger version is played by Tom Blyth (Billy the Kid), whose performance gets better as the film progresses. Maybe it’s the shaved head that helps. You’ll see.

Snow is the last hope for his down-and-out family that has fallen from grace in the post-war Capitol. He plays the part at school of a privileged youth who will just pay university tuition if he doesn’t win the scholarship money and the odds “aren’t ever in his favor.” The intimidating Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), however, sees right through Snow’s makeshift garb as he announces new rules on how to win the top prize: Each student, Snow included, will be assigned a tribute from any one of the districts and must train them to fight the others to the death. The dean is a villainous character that Dinklage (Game of Thrones) can play in his sleep, but why not? He’s reliably superb; if only this 165-minute film featured more of him…

Euphoria breakout star Hunter Schafer also doesn’t appear much here, even though she’s third-billed among the principal cast. She plays Snow’s cousin back home, who occasionally FaceTimes to see how he’s doing. That’s about it, though, but I bet she’ll get plenty more screen time if a sequel (to this prequel) comes to fruition.

Enter Viola Davis and Rachel Zegler

Another cakewalk-type performance here is EGOT winner Viola Davis, sinking her teeth with ease into the terrifyingly seductive role of Dr. Volumnia Gaul, a head honcho alongside the dean to oversee this new sort of Hunger Games tournament. Just looking into her eyes — one of which is a glossed-over light blue shade — will send chills down your spine. Watch, for example, as she terrorizes Snow’s troublemaking classmate pal Clemensia Dovecote (Ashley Liao) in the school’s science lab filled with slithering snakes that can conveniently remember your scent. This nail-biting sequence is just one highlight that helps keep the extremely long film moving. Is three hours the new norm for Hollywood blockbusters? Hopefully not.

Related: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Cast: Other Roles You’ve Seen the Actors Play

But back to the tournament, which has thrown the secretly impoverished Snow for a loop. Will he still be able to win the gold and enter college on a full ride, given that the circumstances have drastically changed? Enter Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) from District 12, but don’t let the impoverished nature of her community fool you. Lucy Gray is charming, fearless, and bold, and it’s a role the West Side Story actress was born to play. You’ll fall in love with her all over again — and she sings! No, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes doesn’t become a musical, but her tunes are catchy enough and will surely be universally appreciated among fans.

Could Songbirds and Snakes Have Been 2 Parts?

Lionsgate

In Lucy Gray’s various talents, Snow sees star power and an opportunity to win over the crowds. He encourages her to use her fury to fuel the drive to beat out the others. That, of course, means surviving and perhaps even killing in the competition, such as the daunting presence that is Coral (Mackenzie Lansing, also a handful in HBO’s Mare of Easttown). As they battle to the death, the tournament is of course televised, and here comes a dash of comic relief — delivered to perfection by the TV host played by Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City). To spoil any of his laugh-out-loud one-liners here would be a crime. You just have to experience his persona firsthand in the theater. His vibe is contagious.

Related: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: Why The Hunger Games Prequel Is Actually a Good Idea

This all transpires just in the first half of the film, with Snow ultimately traveling to an entirely new district after the tournament to track down the love of his life. He takes an assignment as a guard alongside classmate Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andrés Rivera, reuniting with Zegler after West Side Story). Rivera is a star in the making, offering a layered performance here as a rich kid who refuses to be spoiled and instead wants to help those less fortunate. If that means taking radical measures, then so be it, and Snow is there to try and keep him in check. It’s the second half of the film where Blyth’s performance sparkles a bit more. In fact, there’s a good deal of stylistic and narrative difference between the first and second halves here, and with the length of this Hunger Games prequel, one wonders if splitting the film into two would have been more successful.

Compared to the gritty handheld camerawork that helped make the first Hunger Games movie such a success — even for those who weren’t even knowledgeable of the franchise in the first place — The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes a more subdued approach to visual style, but the world-building is first-rate. As earlier mentioned, it wouldn’t be surprising if a follow-up is soon greenlit, though that may end up hinging on author Suzanne Collins’ plans for the future of her Hunger Games universe. In the meantime, while The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes doesn’t exactly measure up to those first couple of films from a decade ago, it should experience commercial success at the box office and a moderate amount of critical acclaim. The star power of Zegler, Dinklage, Davis, and Schwartzman certainly helps.

From Lionsgate, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes will be in theaters November 17. You can watch the trailer below:

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