While the huge phase of the YA novel series adaptations dominating the movie theater has moved on to the possible falling times of the Superhero era, we get a new Hunger Games film out of nowhere. I very much felt this was some originally thought-up movie to just bring the franchise back with none of its stars and to keep this thing going long past its time. Yet that’s not what we have here. Based on the 2020 novel of the same name – The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a prequel story about the origin of Coriolanus Snow, the terrible President portrayed in the earlier films by Donald Sutherland. Having a prequel focusing on how a villain becomes a villain is hard to juggle as you have to like the character enough as a protagonist but not too much so that when he has that heel turn, it doesn’t feel out of nowhere and still is compelling. Does this film do that? Let’s see.
The film is mainly about Snow at 18 or so, the head of his class at the Academy he studies at, and is trying to get the legendary Plinth prize. That will get him into college and money, and that matters because while he’s keeping up appearances, he’s broke and lives with his cousin Tigris and paternal Grandmother. With an empty refrigerator and making pieces of bathroom tiles in fancy buttons, Coriolanus Snow is top tier faking it until he makes it in this world of rich kids in the Capitol City. A big snag hits his plans when everything is upended, and he learns there are no more prizes but that the top student must become the first-ever mentors to the tributes in the tenth annual Hunger Games and the mentor who does the best to increase the ratings and or have their tribute win will get the Plinth prize. Snow ends up with the charismatic Lucy Grey from District 12, a country singing, snake charming girl who instantly captivates him and the whole nation watching the games if he plays it right.
Tom Blyth plays Coriolanus Snow with an eagerness that shows how much ambition he has and, how much his feelings for Lucy (c’mon, you know they fall for each other) and his drive to improve his station while also dealing with the Hunger Games pretty well. It does feel like a younger version of the same person Donald Sutherland played. His costuming is very well done, and he’s good in each scene he’s in with the rest of the cast. Most of his scenes hold a certain tension – to not be found out, to figure out how to help Lucy and impress those in power simultaneously. Blyth, for me, works very well with Rachel Zegler, who plays Lucy Grey. She plays Lucy with a ton of charisma and this country accent that blurs what you expect from a woman of color even though you shouldn’t. While there is the whole Romeo and Juliet style love angle here, it does feel different because both have other intentions, and that is of survival. While for her, it’s literal survival, life or death, she’s not made to be this great warrior but also not a damsel in the film. She’s a bit more cunning, hence the songbird and the snake.
A lot of this relationship feels like something you’d see in a movie about the music industry. A young man trying to be ambitious and make a name for himself in entertainment, he’s an A&R; he sees this young, beautiful girl with a talent no one else gets. He’s partnered with her, figuring out new ways of marketing and connecting with an audience. He impresses the head of the label. She goes out and performs all the way to winning like five Grammys or something. He mixes his emotions with his wishes, and they get mixed together. Then, after they kind of have it all and get together, you see this man isn’t what he said or thought he was, and he becomes a new type of monster. I found that very entertaining and interesting. The film also still connects to political ideas you saw in the earlier ones, and honestly, with everything going on in the world, there were some very apparent parallels in this film. At times, it was jarring because, of course, they wouldn’t know, but also, it’s sad enough that these themes have been here and sadly will be here long after this film is in the zeitgeist and out of it.
The rest of the cast does great performance-wise, but it’s a large one. Here are a few that I’d like to highlight. Viola Davis plays Dr. Volumnia Gaul with a glee of playing an evil genius scientist like you’d see in the 80s toy-based cartoon. Her hair and costume and weird colored eyes. She enjoyed it, and it was enjoyable to watch. Peter Dinklage plays Casca Highbottom, the man who came up with the idea of the Hunger Games and the teacher in charge of his affluent students. While not on the screen, his performance as a troubled man who came up with a terrible idea that you can always see weighing on him is solid work. Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth, the son of the man who gives the prizes to the students who hates the Hunger Games and is Snow’s only friend, is one person who steals the scenes he’s in. Mackenzie Lansing plays a tribute named Coral from District 4 who plays a great “bad guy” tribute that might end up being my favorite of the franchise. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a great follow-up to the earlier films and works very well on its own. It might be the best crowd-pleaser of the Thanksgiving season.
Score: B+
