PG-13 2023 Action/Adventure 2h 38m
Disclaimer: I read the original Hunger Games books, but not the book this one is based on. I’ll cut to the chase: if you aren’t already a fan of this universe, I wouldn’t recommend the movie to you. If you love originals, you’ll like or maybe even love this one. This movie is set decades before the rest of the series and serves as an origin story for President Coriolanus Snow (played by Donald Sutherland in the original series and by Tom Blyth here).
The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes takes place during the tenth annual Hunger Games. Snow is a mentor assigned to District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler, most notably Maria in 2021’s West Side Story). Lucy Gray is one of the many songbirds alluded to in the title; the others are actual birds. Despite “Ballad” and “Songbirds” being in the title, I was still surprised that the movie is filled with musical numbers — most being led by Zegler. She is pretty and a good singer so Snow and the Hunger Games’ in-universe viewing audience are drawn to her.
The set up of the Hunger Games is the same as the rest of the series where a male and female tribute is selected from each district and they must fight each other to the death until only one remains. I never enjoyed that in the books or the movies (not that we are supposed to), but I found it more troubling this time around. I was uncomfortable watching these teens kill each other.
I am a big fan of Peter Dinklage in general. He is a great actor. I was disappointed with his role here. He was not horrible but there wasn’t much for him to do with his character besides figuratively twirl his mustache and make threats. (Non-spoiler: he is an antagonist in the film.)
Again, this movie was just fine. If you love this series, by all means see it. If you don’t or haven’t seen the others, this isn’t a great point of entry to the series.
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