Franchise filmmaking has led to some interesting decisions from the studios, whether it be legacy sequels, reboots, or even the occasional spin-off of an obscure comic book villain. In lieu of this, Lionsgate has come to market with not one, but four franchise films. 2 sequels in John Wick 4 and Expend4bles, and 2 prequels with Saw X and, the film we’ll be reviewing today The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. 

The film is a prequel to the previous Hunger Games movies and follows the origin story of Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth. 64 years before Katniss Everdeen’s revolutionary adventure, a young Snow, along with his fellow prestigious classmates from the Capitol’s premier learning academy, is selected to be the first-ever mentors for the tributes of the 10th annual Hunger Games, a battle royale where 24 teenagers must fight to the death on live TV. Snow’s tribute is the songbird from District 12 Lucy Gray, played wonderfully by Rachel Zegler, and the two must work together to win over the TV audience and survive. 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes really works as a villain origin story. I found the arc that Snow undergoes to be very compelling and filled with appropriately chaotic moments that really showcase the environment that would help create a villain like him. The film refuses to let anything happen without some sort of havoc intervening to throw everything out of wack. It honestly made every scene more exciting and further cemented that the world of Panem is one that is filled with curveballs and unfortunate outcomes. The characters are equally disruptive, with each having their own selfish goals and motives, willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead or simply survive. 

Where the previous films were more focused on navigating the long-standing institutions of the Hunger Games, A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes strives to show how those institutions came about. Things like, what mentors actually do, the concept of sending gifts to tributes, and how impactful marketing and good PR can be to winning a hunger game. Additionally, the film features a lot of fun world-building, which was always one of the strongest aspects of this franchise. I really enjoyed seeing an “older” version of the games, with less advanced tech and theatrics. The steam-punk esq set design is extremely unique, with every building and set giving the vibe of pre-World War I Europe. The setting is also littered with numerous creative details that really flesh out this world in interesting and terrifying ways. My personal favorite was the use of the “Mockingjay” birds which are used both as a plot tool and a way to create tense moments of horror and unease. The creative team of this film really went out of their way to make an extremely interesting world for this story to take place in. 

The characters that fill this world also share this level of depth, however, this is not so evenly spread. This film features a diverse cast of young, upcoming stars like Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, and Tom Blyth, alongside veteran characters Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, and Jason Schwartzman.

I found Blyth’s portrayal of Snow extremely interesting as someone who wants to be successful and is always pivoting his plans to do so. Blyth’s strongest aspect has to be his striking blue eyes, which convey so much in every scene. Zegler also comes out swinging with a bold accent choice and a fun, fiery demeanor which came off as enduring to me. She’s a firecracker who isn’t afraid to swing at whoever stands in her way but is also extremely charming with her southern turn of phrase. The film also goes out of its way to make sure there are plenty of moments to remind the audience that Zegler is a singer with multiple musical moments for her to show off. 

The other two standouts of the film have to be Viola Davis as Dr. Gaul and Schwartzman as Lucky Flickerman. Davis gives a truly nutty performance as a deranged scientist in charge of the War Department and the gamemaster of the Hunger Games. Gaul is this fascinating mix of Mad Hatter and Victor Frankenstein, where one second she’s reciting goofy songs, and the next she’s creating horrifying creatures to torture young kids in an arena. She’s honestly so much fun every time she’s on the screen, much like Schwartzman’s Flickerman, who makes every scene he’s in delightful. Flickerman is always spouting off some sort of joke or wacky color commentary that always lands. Some of his best jokes are actually when he’s out of focus confused at what’s going on in focus. 

These 4 characters are definitely the highlight performances of the film, but the rest kind of fall by the wayside. Hunter Schafer’s Tigris is under-utilized and has very little depth. Dinklage is okay, able to spout off fun lines here and there, but his character simply serves as a roadblock antagonist for Snow. He does get one monologue near the end of the film that’s pretty powerful, but it’s too little too late. Also, none, and I mean NONE, of the other tributes really get anything to work with besides some extremely basic character traits. Like seriously there’s a kid who’s called a lumberjack, that’s all you get. While I’m here, can I just say that Suzanne Collins, the author of the book series, gives these characters some of the wackiest names I’ve ever heard like “Androcles”, “Strabo”, and my favorite, “Pliny”. 

Much like the character names, this film has an extremely odd structure with a weird pace to boot. The Ballad is divided into 3 chapters, with the first two being Dynamite and the third being a black snack firework. The first half is full of energy and excitement as we see the characters try to navigate the system, adapt to problems, and grow together through this weird televised battle royale. Meanwhile, the second is very slow, with lots of downtime. There are some great character moments here, honestly some of the best, but the plot just really comes to a crawl when compared to the lively first two chapters It kind of feels like the movie completely pivots into a completely different film, until it remembers that there isn’t going to be a sequel after this, and quickly wraps everything back up. Honestly, I would have preferred the film be split up into two separate films, one about the 10th Hunger Games, and the second about the fallout, but that just wasn’t cards here. 

Score: 3 out of 5

While having a pretty lackluster third act, The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a strong addition to this franchise that I would definitely recommend to any fan of the series, with its fun performances, intriguing character-focused plot, and creative setting. That being said, I’m not sure this film really works by itself without the context of the other films. If you’re a fan of the series definitely go check it out. If not, you should probably go back and check out at least the first film, which still holds up pretty well all things considered.