The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)
Director: Francis: Lawrence
Screenwriter: Michael Lesslie, Michael Arndt
Starring: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andres Rivera, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Viola Davis

Everyone loves a good origin story. Whether that origin story is worth telling is a different matter entirely.

When The Hunger Games was released more than a decade ago, its massive success (both with fans and at the box office) opened the floodgates for countless other young adult dystopian adaptations. We got The Mortal Instruments, I Am Number Four, Ender’s Game, Divergent, The Fifth Wave, and The Maze Runner, all of which failed to garner the same praise as The Hunger Games had. Though this trend didn’t make it out of the mid-2010s alive, The Hunger Games series has continued to endure thanks to the quality and consistency of the performances, writing, directing, and production design across all four films. Its themes of war, rebellion, oppression, and the power of love, are more timely than ever.

It was inevitable that Hollywood would eventually circle back to The Hunger Games, especially considering the new trend that has emerged in recent years: nostalgia. In the years since The Hunger Games series ended, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Ghostbusters have all been resurrected to varying degrees of success, each new entry seemingly struggling to justify its reason to exist. But The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes somehow manages to escape the same fate. Based on the 2020 prequel novel of the same name by “The Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins, the film stands on its own, reigniting the same spark that made the original films so popular, without ever using those films as a crutch.

In Songbirds and Snakes, we return to the world of Panem 64 years before Katniss Everdeen stepped into the arena. The country is struggling to rebuild following the war, the dark days are barely behind them. The Hunger Games is in its 10th year, but Head Game Maker Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) is struggling to figure out how to get people to keep watching her sickening reality show. Amid this, a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), years before he will become the powerful and cruel dictator we know him to be, is desperate to save his family from financial ruin. Though his father helped to create The Hunger Games, his suspicious death left the family penniless. Coriolanus lives in a constant state of possible eviction with his grandma’am (Fionnula Flanagan) and older cousin Tigris (Hunter Schafer), who will go on to become a stylist for the games and later an ally to Katniss in the resistance against The Capitol.

At the academy, Coriolanus is informed that there will be one more test before graduation: seniors must become mentors in the upcoming games. “Your job is to make them into spectacles, not survivors,” Dean Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) tells them. Coriolanus ends up being paired with Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a fiery tribute from District 12 and member of the Covey, a traveling musician troupe. Lucy Gray doesn’t have much in the way of fighting skills, but she is a performer and the arena becomes her stage. She also has a habit of slicing snakes on people that have wronged her. When Coriolanus and Lucy Gray form an unexpected connection, he ends up risking everything to make sure she makes it out of the games alive, but the threat of rebellion in the districts and Coriolanus’ ambition begin to tear them apart.

Songsbirds and Snakes works for a couple of different reasons, chief among them being the fact that almost the entire production team behind The Hunger Games returned to make it. Francis Lawrence, who took over for The Hunger Games director Gary Ross with Catching Fire (2013) and stayed until the end of the series (2015), returned to direct, along with producer Nina Jacobson. Returning production designer Phillip Messina and cinematographer Jo Willem manage to recreate the look of the original series to ensure that it feels as though no time had passed between the final instalment and this prequel, while still giving the film its own visual flair. While The Hunger Games is not tame by any means, the luxury and gloss of The Capitol’s state of the art technology gives everything a glossy sheen. In Songbirds and Snakes, everything is primitive and wild: the arena is a crumbling concrete dome, there is no late night talk show, no fancy training center or tribute living quarters, everything feels rough and unpolished and ten times as dangerous. The color pallet, although reminiscent of the original films, is decidedly darker. The production and costume designers took obvious inspiration from the 1940s, and particularly Nazi Germany, especially in regards to the battle rifles used. While The Hunger Games used analogue technology as a jumping off point for its futuristic designs, Songbirds and Snakes takes that to another level. It’s easy to see how this Panem will eventually becomes that one, decades later. The film is one of those rare big-budget spectacles that actually looks as expensive as it is.

The Hunger Games succeeded in part because the novels were adapted with care, the filmmakers making sure to keep important details and characters and moments that made the story work in the first place. The narrative wasn’t tossed into a blender and then thrown up on screen. Suzanne Collins’ rich world building remained in tact throughout the four original films, and the same goes for Songbirds and Snakes. Every film in the original series is nearly 1 to 1 to its novel counterparts. Fans eager for another faithful adaptation will not be disappointed. Songbirds and Snakes stays almost entirely true to the spirit of the novel.

Despite the pressure of being the first entry in a widely popular franchise in nearly decade, Songbirds and Snakes is not trying to replicate the story beats of The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins crafted an intriguing origin story for her main villain, and that is partially responsible for this, but the filmmakers can also take credit as they didn’t feel the need to replicate moments from the original series or reference characters and events that haven’t happened yet (in the timeline of their in-film world). The closest they get to a wink and a nod is when Lucy Gray tells Coriolanus that the plant she’s holding is Katniss. Of course, those looking to have a little bit of the original series injected in their veins will not be disappointed either. Composer James Newton Howard knows exactly when to employ his Mockingjay theme. The structure of the film is also different and not just a carbon copy of the previous films, which almost always ended in the arena or in some type of explosive battle. Songbirds and Snakes takes the opposite approach. The first half of the movie is spent preparing for and executing the games, with the latter half dedicated to the unravelling of Coriolanus and Lucy’s relationship. Although, the movie does lose some steam once the games are over.

As far performances go, Songbirds and Snakes has a strong main cast that helps elevate the material and convey the complex inner lives of our characters even when it’s not necessarily found on the page. In addition to an impeccable American accent and a really good blond wig, relatively unknown English actor Tom Blyth manages to step into the shoes previously worn by the prolific Donald Sutherland with ease, although he doesn’t quite have Sutherland’s flair for the dramatic. But he’s just as charismatic to watch, and although he makes the character his own, it is not hard to believe that he is the younger version of a character we already know. He has a similar face and a similar voice, but there’s a hint of humanity in him that he has all but abandoned when we see him in The Hunger Games. In Songbirds and Snakes, there’s a vulnerability to him, but there’s also a darkness lurking just below the surface and Blyth balances that very well. Rachel Zegler is perfectly cast as Lucy Gray, brimming with charm and confidence. It should be no surprise that Zegler has a fantastic voice, thanks to her screen debut as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Josh Andres Rivera is an absolute scene stealer as Sejanus Plinth, classmate of Coriolanus whose sympathy for the rebel cause becomes his ultimate downfall, and Hunter Schafer, who burst onto the scene as Jules on the HBO series “Euphoria”, is enchanting as Snow’s cousin Tigris, although her talent does feel wasted on such a small part. Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City) is absolutely hilarious as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, first television host of the games and presumed relative of Caesar Flickerman, who was played by Stanley Tucci in the original. His one liners in the midst of children killing each other highlights just how crass and and out of touch the people in The Capitol are. His performance never feels forced or over the top, as Tucci’s sometimes did.

All in all, Songbirds and Snakes is a worthy entry into The Hunger Games canon, offering a rich and intriguing peek into the past. It’s not as emotionally satisfying as the original series, but with only one film as opposed to four, that’s a difficult height to reach. Still, in an industry overrun with remakes, prequels, sequels, and reboots, Songbirds and Snakes understands how capturing the magic of a series so many already love is easy, you just have to tell a really good story.

Score: 22/24

Warning! Spoilers Ahead!

This time last year Mockingjay Part 1 left off with the rebel cause gaining more and more momentum. Katniss Everdeen was still being used as a poster girl by President Coin and Plutarch Havensbee, Finnick and Annie were reunited, Haymitch Abernathy and Effie Trinket were adjusting to a dreary, sober existence underground in District 13, Peeta Mellark was still under the influence of the Capitol’s brainwashing, and Gale Hawthorne, predictably, was still sulking over his unrequited love for Katniss.

Now Katniss and co. are back again for the ultimate showdown against President Snow and the Capitol in the final film of the series: Mockingjay Part 2; adapted from Suzanne Collins’ young adult trilogy of the same name. Marching on the Capitol, taking on Panem’s sadistic game makers for a final time and overthrowing everyone’s hidden agendas, the final installment of The Hunger Games, set against the grey backdrop of a cold and wintery Panem, is its most dark, deadly and destructive yet.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 76^th Hunger Games.

While Peeta is still restrained in 13’s hospital with the medics trying to figure out how to ‘un-hijack’ him, Katniss and Gale go to district 2 to help capture the Capitol’s weapons arsenal. While Katniss grows tired of the war and is haunted by the innocent civilians killed, Gale is convinced that his and Beetee’s plan will work, and counts the dead civilians as nothing more than collateral damage.

After being shot by one of the loyalists, Coin and Havensbee deem Katniss too valuable as the face of the rebellion to be out fighting on the streets and she is ordered to stay in 13. But, a tip-off from Johanna at Annie and Finnick’s wedding about a hovercraft taking medical supplies to the front line gives Katniss a chance to escape her underground prison and join the rebel armies, now being led by Commander Paylor of District 8. Reunited with Gale and Boggs, and soon joined Finnick and Peeta, the group are teamed up with director Cressida and her crew again as part of the rebel’s Star Squad, an elite group of rebel soldiers who will trail far behind the army and be the onscreen face of the war. But, with the streets lined with booby traps known as ‘pods’ including tidal waves of tar, unmanned machine guns, ‘mutts’ and landmines – all created by gamemakers – along with hidden agendas, double dealing and cold blooded murder, the Capitol has never been so dangerous. Katniss must learn who her true friends and allies are, and how to survive in this new Panem, where the only person she has to protect is herself.

In the previous films we have had some sort of comic relief in one way or another, be it Effie and her foibles, Haymitch and Katniss arguing, or Johanna and her sarcastic nature, but Mockingjay Part 2 is unflinchingly grim and hard hitting and, while only being rated as a 12A/PG13, really puts the audience through the wringer. While Panem’s civil war may take place in a futuristic, dystopian world, Francis Lawrence’s depiction of war is one that we are all too familiar with, bearing a frightening resemblance to the images of the so-called ‘War on Terror’ in the Middle East that have filled our news broadcasts daily for the past 14 years.

This isn’t to suggest that the film bad, because it’s actually more like a movie of two halves.

In among the rapidly rising body count and underhanded political power struggles, the performances of stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson as Katniss and Peeta are outstanding, and Donald Sutherland plays dictator President Coriolanus Snow with a chilling precision; reinforcing why he has become such a hated cinematic figure over the past few years. Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Sam Claflin and Jena Malone as Haymitch, Effie, Finnick and Johanna were also exceptional despite limited screen-time and barely being given the chance to develop an emotional bond with the audience in this particular installment.

With the final book being split into two films there was the potential for as little plot as possible to be left out but the film focuses so much on the efforts of the Star Squad in the Capitol that it leaves out almost all of the action in District 13. For example, while the book explores Post Traumatic Stress Disorder through Johanna training to join the rebel armies and suffering flashbacks to her torture in the Capitol, that entire sub-plot is left out of the film. At the same time, Katniss suffers with depression and the pair form an unlikely bond that gets them through their nightmares in District 13, but almost all treatments of mental illnesses were cut from the big screen. Beetee and Gale’s plan for capturing the Capitol’s military in District 2 was also poorly explained in favour of big explosions and special effects, as is Gale and Coin’s involvement in Prim’s death and the subsequent termination of Gale and Katniss’s friendship. Katniss also finds and unlikely ally in Snow following Prim’s death, but again that meeting is over as quickly as it started and we are left wondering if Snow really was telling the truth.

The pacing of the film is also a little off, with the battle scenes in the Capitol being stretched to their limits, and beyond. The ending of the film, which fast-forwards a few years to Katniss and Peeta enjoying a happy life in what was District 12 with their two children is rushed and fails to capture the audience in the same way the book did. The fates of the other characters are either surmised in a dozen or so words, as is the case of Annie, Gale and Katniss’ mother, or ignored completely as is the case with Haymitch, Beetee, Johanna and Effie.

So, while Mockingjay Part 2 does bring about the conclusion of what has undoubtedly been one of the biggest and most significant film franchises of recent years, it does so in a clumsy and roundabout way, and fails to match up to the high standards of its predecessors. The acting, of those who actually get more than two minutes screen time, is superb despite the script being so lacking and so much potential being wasted. The wintery backdrop and the realistic depiction of urban civil war sets the dark and gritty tone for this film but it still fails to properly deal with the aftermath and psychological effects of war, leaving us wandering out with more unanswered questions than we went in with.

Ultimately, one of the most anticipated films of the year has fallen victim to its own hype and high expectations, resulting in a fairly satisfying conclusion to this epic saga, but still with a lot left to be desired.

16/24