The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, 2023.
Directed by Francis Lawrence.
Starring Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, Josh Andrés Rivera, Fionnula Flanagan, Isobel Jesper Jones, Ashley Liao, Jerome Lance, Knox Gibson, Mackenzie Lansing, Aamer Husain, Nick Benson, Lilly Cooper, Luna Steeples, Hiroki Berrecloth, Max Raphael, Zoë Renee, Ayomide Adegun, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi, Sofia Sanchez, Amélie Hoeferle, Irene Böhm, Cooper Dillon, Luna Kuse, Kjell Brutscheidt, Dimitri Abold, Athena Strates, Dakota Shapiro, George Somner, Vaughan Reilly, Flora Thiemann, Honor Gillies, Eike Onyambu, Konstantin Taffet, Burn Gorman, Scott Folan, Carl Spencer, Michael Greco, Daniela Grubert, Dexter Sol Ansell, and Victoria Paige Watkins.
SYNOPSIS:
64 years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow sees a chance for a change in fortunes when he mentors Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12.
With The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, director Francis Lawrence (who adapted all but the first of Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games novels, here working from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt) avoids making nostalgia pandering choices that would have plagued similar revivals of series in general prequels.
Rather than pluck the actual Games portion from this book and expand it into a full-blown movie while relegating everything before and after to a rushed afterthought, this is a straightforward three-part adaptation that is confidently courageous to be different from the rest, at times resembling something one might see on HBO, not YA source material. That’s one way of saying the third act is heavy on the moral drama, betrayal, and politicking of the dystopian Panem world in darkly astute ways that speak to human corruption and some sinister revelations regarding why and how the real-world battle royale survival punishment game exists.
That third act is something unexpectedly special that devastatingly ties the narrative together with convincing cruelty and bleakness, which is something not always said for the primarily bloodless Games that once again fail to elicit a true sense of the horror on display. Of course, that can typically be overcome by crafting characters worth caring about, but the point stands that some fatal wounds require a little red. The final 40 minutes here don’t have that problem because what’s happening on screen and the character’s choices and subsequent harrowing consequences generate that shock and emotional response. Again, the highest compliment that can be paid to this film is that the longer it goes on, the more it reaches a point where it doesn’t resemble a YA novel.
The lack of appropriately horrifying sights of blood is also easier to overlook since the filmmakers aren’t insulting the audience’s intelligence by going out of their way to introduce weapons, technology, rules, or other aspects of the Game that otherwise would not make sense in a prequel, which seems to be the go-to move for Hollywood and video games. Here, the story of the tenth annual Hunger Games is told, which marked an uncertain time in the event’s history since, much like Major League Baseball, before tweaking some details about the sport to make it more exciting, interest and viewership have fallen off. There is significantly less flash and panache regarding costumes, technological interfaces, and battlefields, although one stylishly sentimental, gorgeous dress.
Tasked with coming up with a solution, Capitol Academy student and 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth essentially playing a young version of Donald Sutherland’s villain from the original story) wants to create a more interactive environment that will help remind viewers that these are real people participating in such barbarism, going as far as implementing a betting system (the last thing Fan Duel needs are people making parlay deaths) and a means for donating supplies. It’s sound thinking that’s also somewhat queasy.
This is also the first year where the Game will use the mentor system, with Coriolanus serving as the advisor to a tiny, crafty singer from District 2 named Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), chosen to be thrown to the wolves over a relationship dispute involving the mayor’s daughter in what is one of the more forgettable subplots. Coriolanus works to earn her trust and ensure her survival, primarily because the mentor with the most popular contestant is set to receive a hefty payday that the ambitious young man hopes to use to restore the family’s financial standing after his General father was killed during a rebellion years ago.
Regularly receiving advice from his cousin Tigres (Hunter Schafer playing the character that would go on to support Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss) and cautionary warnings about what kind of man that father was and how not to become him, Coriolanus does begin with a noble heart and ambitions, searching for common ground with Lucy while going over a camping strategy that would greatly benefit her chance of survival since she is not exactly a fighter. However, she is stealthy and knows how to handle snakes, plus she has been graced with a piercingly angelic singing voice to sway public opinion onto her side.
Meanwhile, Coriolanus tries to reign his university and mentor friend Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andrés Rivera) in from grandly opposing the Games in a manner that could get him killed, which would prevent him from making any real difference in the world. There is also Viola Davis, having a blast as the demented head game maker Dr. Volumnia Gaul, Jason Schwartzman as a younger amateurish take on Lucky Flickerman, and Peter Dinklage as Academy Dean Casca Highbottom, the creator of the games who is depressed and addicted to a drug with the disturbing reason being revealed over time.
Speaking of things unfolding, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes occasionally suffers from languid pacing and could have used a tighter edit, but the journey is compelling with a piercing destination. This installment also takes advantage of the power of song and lyrics and, by association, the immensely talented vocals of Rachel Zegler for several numbers that elevate the emotional grip. Tom Blyth also sells the escalating and troubling morality dance for Coriolanus. Most importantly, this is a prequel with familiar intense elements but slithers and sings when it transforms into something more character-driven and thematically harsher.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
