In the raging, never ending sea of young adult dystopian series, The Hunger Games has always seemed to stand atop the rest. Now, I was busy SparkNoting my way through high school when these kinds of books were in their prime so I can’t speak on those specifically. However, if we’re looking at movie adaptations, there really isn’t much of a comparison. We ain’t talking Divergence or The Maze Runner, get that shit outta here. Not since Harry Potter waggled his wand have we seen a book series transform into a beloved, billion dollar film franchise. The Hunger Games catapulted Jennifer Lawrence into superstardom and gave the world a sci-fi Battle Royale young and old could get behind. But with all the success Harry Potter had, it still fell to the dreaded corporate milking machine which churned out 3 underwhelming prequels. While I was writing this I thought there were only 2, apparently there was a third one that came out last year? Could’ve fooled me.

Now Hunger Games is receiving a similar treatment with an adaptation of a prequel novel written by the original author Suzanne Collins. But will it fall to the same fate of coming and going without a sound like the aforementioned Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? Perhaps only time will tell, but for now I can say at least in my opinion, this was a pretty solid addition to the franchise. The film offers a relatively interesting glimpse into the early years of the titular games, as well as the growth of the series’ main antagonist, Coriolanus Snow. His story of love, loss and swaying morality is often captivating, leading to perhaps one of the most layered characters the franchise has seen. The PG-13 rating never puts a damper on the brutality and depressing nature of the dystopia, managing to elicit genuine emotional responses without getting too graphic. It’s not without its faults, as the film does tend to cram a lot of story into almost 3 hours of film, which often sacrifices more meaningful character development for bigger movie moments. The script does feel comparatively weak at times with some eye-rolling nods to the main series, but as someone who wouldn’t necessarily call themselves a huge Hunger Games fan, I still had a pretty great time with this.

Set over 50 years before the main Hunger Games series, we follow the rise of future Capitol President Coriolanus Snow, who serves as a mentor for a District 12 singer named Lucy Gray Baird who has been chosen to compete in the 10th Annual Hunger Games. The two develop a close relationship that eventually sends Snow down a path of lies, deception and betrayal that will eventually shape him into the tyrannical leader of the country of Panem.

Tom Blyth portrays the young Coriolanus Snow, who originally was portrayed by legendary actor and mustache connoisseur Donald Sutherland. I really enjoyed this characterization of Snow, portraying him in a genuine anti-hero light that isn’t afraid to cast him as unsavory and despicable. This has been a trend in these villain turned anti-hero movies like Cruella and Morbius that completely ignore the character’s true darker side in hopes of making the character more likable to a wider audience. But here they make Snow’s capabilities and two-faced nature clear from the first few scenes, with Blyth doing a solid job selling the characters desperation and cunningness. At the end you still feel like there are some noticeable gaps between the man he is now and the man he becomes, which does leave you wanting to see more. His eventual “turn” (if you can call it that) felt very abrupt to me, making it hard for me to believe his presidential future. I think this could have been improved a bit by giving us more of a glimpse into his psyche. The film is from his perspective and he’s in pretty much every single scene, so it would have been nice to see a more introspective dissection of the character rather than the fairly surface level take we get. Even so, I still enjoyed following the character and dare I say it, I found him more interesting than Katniss. Though one is a hero, one isn’t, so maybe that’s not a fair comparison. 

Rachel Ziegler portrays energetic rebellious songbird Lucy Gray, who I enjoyed even if I have mixed feelings about her. Look, straight up, Ziegler has all the potential to be a true star one day. I knew this watching West Side Story. I cut her some slack for Shazam: Fury of the Gods because no one is good in that, and I could definitely tell it here. She has all the tools; she can sing, she can dance, she can act…kinda. Look, she’s still relatively new to the cinema screen so she does have some growing to do, but I think she does an okay job here. She’s incredibly likable and talented, which makes the character of Lucy Gray pretty magnetic both for other characters and for the viewer. The southern accent though…listen, I was raised in the south and have had to endure all kinds of accent attempts, and this one just felt a little too hokey for my taste. I think you can tell she’s not super confident in it either, because I did catch a few instances of it slipping, but other than that I thought she did a great job. She sings a ton of original songs here that I really enjoyed, enough to the point where it actually made me seek out the soundtrack and give it another listen. She’ll get there one day for me, but odds are she might already be there for you. Maybe if you aren’t an angry Disney adult.

We do get some smaller performances from big actors like Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage who are just as electrifying as you think they’d be. Viola Davis in particular looks to be having a real blast, playing a mad scientist of sorts with no remorse. Oh, and how could I forget the true star of the film, Jason Schwartzman as weatherman, amateur magician, and first ever host of the Hunger Games Lucky Flickerman, who is just a dumb joy whenever he’s on screen. Schwartzman is completing the trifecta this year with other great performances in Asteroid City and Across the Spider-Verse. Another performance I quickly wanted to highlight is Josh Andres Rivera as Sejanus Plinth, I colleague and friend of Snow’s who gives a pretty great performance, often being the only voice of empathy in a world filled with hate and brutality.

Like the original films, there’s a great sense of scope and grounded realism in the film, even though I found this film to be a bit more polished than the original four films. Which might be good for some, but I think it took away from some of the grittiness found in the main series. I don’t know, there’s just something about the claustrophobic shaky cam of the originals that just feels much more appealing to me than some of these cleaner, sleeker action sequences. There’s an instance during the beginning of this film’s Hunger Games where the initial tussle is filmed in what’s mostly all one shot. It’s certainly impressive, but it doesn’t necessarily have the same urgency and hecticness that I think makes those Game kickoff scenes in previous films as effective as they are. Speaking of the Games, I know this is supposed to be early in their lifespan, but the Hunger Games here are pretty uninteresting. It’s essentially a dusty, ruined coliseum with very little variety or creativity in the peril it places these children in. While this is definitely meant to highlight the remorseless and primitive brutality of the games, it’s hard to argue that the bleak spectacle of what the games would later become is far more engaging. Even still, I found the film’s violence to be pretty effective, despite the apparent lack of blood. Obviously PG-13 has its limits, but I think everything from stabbings to hangings are handled superbly, mostly because of the film’s emphasis on the emotional gravity of each of the killings. I think it also helps that all of the environments are either practical or convincing enough to give some added realism that definitely sells the world.

While I quite enjoyed the story, it did feel like it was trying to cover a lot of ground in almost 3 hours, and I don’t think it necessarily stuck the landing as gracefully as it could have. The pacing is fine for the most part, but it really feels like there’s two movies jammed in here that could have honestly stood on their own. I know some people had dissenting opinions on the decision to split up Mockingjay into two parts, but I actually think this would have benefited this story. It would have allowed us more time to dwell with Snow’s psyche and further flesh out his relationship with characters like his cousin Tigris, his other classmates, and even Lucy Gray. We get a lot of action and plot moments, but it’s those quieter moments that I think could have really used some extra support to really knock this out of the park for me.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes does an exceptional job at fleshing out the series’ world and lore, while providing an intriguing glimpse into the rise of one of the series’ most prominent characters. It does a lot right with keeping in the spirit of the series while still managing to surprise with its darker moments. A Part 1 and 2 could have been useful in further developing the characters and relationships, but as is this is a solid dystopian film about the overextension of power used to gruesomely punish a lower class whose dehumanization is supported by thinly veiled fear and propaganda. Man, good thing that’s never happened or is currently happening in real life!

Rating

Mockingjay

Mockingjays are a predominant symbol in the Hunger Games universe. In the main series we know them as the symbol of rebellion and a moniker that protagonist Katniss Everdeen eventually adopts. The cross between a mockingbird and a blue jay plays a pivotal role in this film, leading to the downfall of a particular character. It’s such an iconic creature that I just had to base my cocktail around it. This drink is floral with a bit of tartness, flavored with orange, peach and lavender to provide a complex, spirit forward drink served in a super cute bird cocktail glass! If you’re interested in picking up a few yourself, you can find them here.

Ingredients

• 2oz Ketel One Peach and Orange Blossom vodka
• 3/4oz creme de violette
• 1/2oz elderflower liqueuer
• 1/4oz lemon juice
• 1/4oz blue curacao
• 2 dashes lavender bitters
• Garnish: Rosemary

Instructions

1. Add ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice.
2. Strain into a chilled bird cocktail glass.
3. Garnish with rosemary sprigs to form tail feathers.