The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (12A)

Dir: Francis Lawrence

Cast: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwarzman, Hunter Shafer, Josh Andres Rivera, Viola Davis

The latest instalment in The Hunger Games franchise is an entertaining enough return to Panem despite some rushed character developments and a bloated final act

Following on from the release and success of Twilight in 2008, there was a plethora of movie adaptations based on popular Young Adult novels. Twilight itself would go onto have five cinematic releases, grossing over $3 billion in the process despite dwindling critical reception. Many of the subsequent ‘YA’ adaptations struggled to reach levels set by Twilight, with several failing to even establish a cinematic franchise. One that did succeed however, is ‘The Hunger Games‘, a dystopian franchise based on the series of novels by American author, Suzanne Collins.

The first movie in the franchise was released back in 2012 and helped launch the career of a then 21-year-old Jennifer Lawrence. The film was well received by critics and audiences with particular praise for its surprisingly bleak and graphic tone, especially for a YA novel adaptation. Eleven years later, and this first instalment still remains as my favourite novel to screen adaptation of any young adult novel. Whilst my investment into the franchise did begin to dwindle over the years, I still found myself enjoying the latter movies and with the announcement of the prequel ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’, my interest piqued.

Now eight years after the tetralogy concluded, we are invited to return to brutal world of Panem for the latest film in the franchise, which is adapted from Collins’ 2020 novel of the same name. The prequel serves as an origin story for the tyrannical President Snow, who was portrayed by the sinister and equally charismatic Donald Sutherland in the original series.

‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes‘ takes place 64 years prior to Katniss Everdeen’s victory in the 74th annual Hunger Games, setting the film on the eve of the 10th annual Hunger Games ceremony. There is an immediately striking contrast between these two pivotal moments in the history of the fictional Panem, as we see all twelve districts including The Capitol reduced to rubble and dust. Even ten years after quashing a rebellion, The Capitol is still under repair and a far cry from the picturesque and futuristic utopia we have come to know from the original four movies.

It is here in The Capitol, where we are first introduced to a fresh faced, 18 year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), years prior to him becoming the sadistic mastermind we all know. Coriolanus is one of twenty-four Academy students assigned to mentor a tribute at the 10th annual Hunger Games, with a coveted Plinth Prize and subsequent University scholarship as their incentive. Games creator Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) and Head Gamemaker Dr. Gaul (Viola Davis) advise the mentors to focus on entertaining audiences rather than having their tributes win the games due to declining viewing figures.

Coriolanus is assigned the female tribute from District 12, Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler), who charms The Capitol viewers by singing during the reaping ceremony. In order to gain her trust, Coriolanus visits Lucy Gray on numerous occasions in the Capitol Zoo, where all tributes are held captive and displayed for the public. Coriolanus vows he will help Lucy Gray win the Hunger Games as he and fellow academic, Sejanus Plinth (Jose Andres Rivera) start to question the morals and purpose of the Hunger Games.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the most engrossing part of ‘The Hunger Games‘ franchise is the actually games themselves. It puts us as the audience in the shoes of those in The Capitol, as we watch on as twenty-four innocent kids fight to the death before our very eyes. It is both horrific and tantalizing and this is why the games are success, despite the idea of sending these children to an early grave being that of pure evil. This is where I felt the last two movies stumbled, as there are no games to speak of despite the title of the franchise. The first two instalments; The Hunger Games and the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire don’t have the pressure of focusing on downfall of The Capitol as a result of Katniss’ rebellion and this results in much tighter and entertaining storytelling. It also does not help that the final novel of the trilogy, Mockingjay, was egregiously split into two parts, such as the trend at the time, following in the footsteps of the Twilight and Harry Potter finales.

It is good to see the games themselves return in ‘Songbirds and Snakes‘ albeit for a shorter amount of the runtime than I had hoped and anticipated. For the brief time we get to spend with the ill destined tributes in the arena, we can see how far the games will develop over the subsequent 64 years. Unlike Katniss’ two stints in the arena, which take place in vast landmasses filled with diverse ecosystems, the 10th annual Hunger Games take place in a glorified school auditorium. There is also extensive training programme in the latter games, something that is not present here, forcing the unprepared and malnourished tributes to almost scrap to the death rather than fight.

The games aside, I was somewhat disappointed by this latest instalment as it tries to fit square pegs in round holes in order to reach a conclusion that we all know is coming. This is a common issue with major Hollywood prequels, as they have to meet an end point that is predetermined by past films in a franchise. This can lead to very rushed and underwritten character arcs just to serve the purpose of moving the over arching story forward. Here we have a prime example of this, with the young and seemingly well spirited Coriolanus Snow. For the majority of the film’s runtime we have no reason to question Coriolanus’ actions or motives as he appears genuine when it comes to his conflicting thoughts on the games. He also seems to possess a great deal of sympathy and admiration for Lucy Gray, which in turn sees a relationship blossom. So when the inevitable heel turn comes in the film’s very slow and bloated final act, it does not feel like an organic progression in his character. It is almost like screenwriters, Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, backed themselves into a corner and opted for the quickest way out of it.

Grievances aside, I still found the film entertaining as a fresh take on the established franchise and despite some poorly written characters, they are flamboyantly brought to life by solid performances by the ensemble, Jason Schwarzman‘s turn as the pompous host of the Hunger Games, Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, being a standout.

Currently there are no more novels in the franchise by Suzanne Collins, but I doubt this will be the last time we take a journey through Panem.