The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

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.

  • Released: 2023-11-15
  • Runtime: 158 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Adventure
  • Stars: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Josh Andrés Rivera, Jerome Lance, Ashley Liao, Knox Gibson, Mackenzie Lansing, Aamer Husain, Hunter Schafer, Laurel Marsden, Lilly Cooper, Luna Steeples, Hiroki Berrecloth, Jason Schwartzman, Max Raphael, Zoe Renee, Ayomide Adegun, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi, Sofia Sanchez, Amélie Hoeferle
  • Director: Francis Lawrence
 Comments
  • namob-43673 - 30 June 2024
    Boring nonsense and horrible casting
    This movie is so uninteresting and nonsensical, I am not even sure why it was made. What is the point with this movie? What is it even about? And when you cast the least likeable actress in the whole of Hollywood as the lead, well, then you will of course have a disaster on your hands.

    This movie has nothing. No content, no story, no different acts that separates the movie into coherent parts, and most definitely no actors. The casting choices here is contemptuous, with the mentioned lead as bottom of the barrel.

    And this movie runs for 2 and a half hours! How?

    The only real redeeming treat I can think of is that the costume department did not mess up too much.

    1/10 and please stay away.
  • Platypuschow - 14 June 2024
    The Hunger Games The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes: Unnecessary and unbalanced
    Plot

    Coriolanus Snow mentors and develops feelings for the female District 12 tribute during the 10th Hunger Games.

    Cast

    Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth lead while assisted by veterans Viola Davis, Fionnula Flanagan and in a surprisingly competent casting choice Jason Schwartzman.

    Verdict

    When I saw the poster and discovered we were about to get another Hunger Games movie I wasn't exactly excited, furthermore when I learned it was a cop out prequel. I deemed it another unneeded cashgrab movie and didn't rush to watch it.

    The missus chose it for movie night so I prepared for the lackluster, more teen angst and pretty people. Was it everything I feared? Yes and no.

    Our leads are competent but unengaging, the supporting cast are solid but not strong enough to carry the film, the movie though feeling like a Hunger Games has a very unbalanced tone and an abundance of unlikable characters and suffers from the glaring issue that our hero is the villain in all the other movies so we know the direction this guy is going to go.

    Hunger Games was already stretched too thin without a non-nonsensical prequel!

    Rants

    How many years off death sports do you think we are? In some form or another I feel they're inevitable. A TV show where people compete for wealth in games where folks may or will be killed (Likely by each other). It's going to happen, but when? Will it be born simply of a shift in society or will it be used in a political purpose format such as overpopulation? Would you watch it? What percentage of the world would protest against it? Fascinating topic but I doubt it'll be in my lifetime.

    The Good

    Cast are passable A few watchable moments Jason Schwartzman and Viola Davis are great here

    The Bad

    Just doesn't click Inconsistent tones Weak characters Questionable finale.