Movie Review: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Nearly a decade after the original series of film chronicling the story of Panem and the Hunger Games, the prequel story The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes attempts to breathe new life into a dormant franchise that ultimately should have been left to rest on its laurels.

Set sixty-four years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute to save her sister from certain death in the Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes tells the tale of a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) who is assigned to mentor tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) in the tenth session of the games. Snow, who comes from a once powerful family that has now fallen upon more lean financial times, sees his alliance with Lucy Gray as an opportunity to restore his family’s social and financial status.

Still in its relative infancy, the Games are far from the orchestrated and methodical entertainment they will eventually become. Now, they simply consist of throwing the tributes into a dilapidated arena along with some assorted weapons until they dispatch one another, and one tribute remains. Simply put, it is slaughter for mass consumption. However, when Lucy Gray arrives as tribute, young Snow is immediately taken by her (much in the same way that the whole of Panem is taken by Katniss years later), and immediately sets about trying to manipulate the machinations of the contest to save her life. Ultimately though, he must conquer his own ambitions for power to save her and keep from becoming a “snake” himself.

Directed by Frances Lawrence, who also helmed three of the previous four films in the Hunger Games saga, this new addition does an able job of establishing the situations that could have resulted in the creation of such games. But there is a definitive feeling of retreading that permeates the film and is never overcome to allow the story to unfold on its own terms. That is, there is a constant aura of “see, this is why this happens” at play that grows rather wearisome as the film plays out.

Furthermore, with a running time of over two-and-a-half hours, the film plays as though it is fully aware that there was not enough of interest here to split the film into two parts as was done with the final entry in the original series – Mockingjay – and instead screenwriters Michael Arndt and Michael Lesslie offer up a behemoth that proves to be far more dense and plodding than any of the previous entries in the series.

Rachel Zegler, Sofia Sanchez, and Luna Steeples in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.”

The redeeming feature of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is Rachel Zegler’s portrayal of Lucy Gray Baird. Without her, the entire film might feel like the viewer was being put through the ordeal of the games themselves. As she did in Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), Zegler manages to steal the show as the standout performer; which is no small feat given colorful portrayals from the likes of Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, and Viola Davis that enliven a somewhat banal storyline.

While it is far from being unenjoyable, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes instead becomes something far more deadly than anything found within the games themselves – unnecessary.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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