The Hunger Games is a series of films that starred Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen.  It’s a young adult book series based on the dystopian future by Suzanne Collins. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the prequel to those stories and films. It’s the story of Coriolanus Snow, previously played by Donald Southerland in The Hunger Games films. 

Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) has just lost his father and lives with his cousin Tigris (Hunter Schafer) and his grandmother. They have lost all of their money and are struggling to survive. The only hope he has is the new rules that have been created in the Hunger Games by gamesmaster Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) where each tribute has a mentor. When the tributes are eliminated from the Games the mentor loses out on the Plinth Prize. For Coriolanus this prize is everything. His tribute from District 12 is Lucy Gray Baird (Rechal Zegler) dubbed the songbird by her fans and those who have seen her in the capital. She is the only hope of saving Snow and his family’s legacy and getting his respect back.

The film uses three segments to differentiate the three phases of the story. The first part is The Mentor, the second part is The Prize and the third part is The Peacekeeper. Fans of The Hunger Games films already know the destination of Coriolanus Snow but this film shows part of how he got where he is in those films. It shows in three parts how the innocent young man became hard and ruthless. Even though he seems to have a soft part in his heart. The Capital has given him a way of thinking that he is very used to and wants to keep his life on top.

Francis Lawrence has directed three of the previous Hunger Games films, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay Pt 1 & 2, so he knows his way around Panem. He uses a lot of the things that made the previous films very successful. Beautiful Cinematography by Jo Williams, costumes by Trish Summerville, and a great score by James Newton Howard to bring fans back into this world. All of these technical elements instantly brought me back to Panem. 

The script by Michael Arndt and Michael Lasslie based on Collins’ book is very good. Like a lot of book-to-screen adaptations, they had to cut out the fat of the book and concentrate on the meat and potatoes of this story. The key element of the story is about the relationship between the mentor and the tribute. How their relationship helps them both in the end. As they say in some circles, if you’re not cheating you’re not trying. Quite a few successful people get to the top by some shady methods and the end of this man’s story has already been written. This is just a part of how he got there in the end. The script works perfectly in that regard.

With all The Hunger Games movies they have got a lot of big-name actors who play these literary characters. This film has a similar approach. Academy Award winner Viola Davis plays Dr. Volumnia Gual, the creator of The Hunger Games. She has her nefarious schemes to keep the games relevant and in the public consciousness of Panem. She’s a nasty character. Davis goes over the top with her performance but she is always great to see in any film she’s in. Jason Schwartzman plays Lucretius “Lucky “ Flickerman, the host of the games. He’s the father of Caesar Flickerman played by Stanley Tucci. They are very similar in a lot of ways as fathers and sons tend to be. They both have the same flair for dramatics though. Which makes them fun to watch on screen. They both were given delicious dialogue as well. The aforementioned Peter Dinklage plays the Casca Highbottom.  He is a nasty character as well. He has his machinations regarding his role in the games. Dinklage as always is fantastic and I could watch him read the phone book if necessary.  He is that good at his craft. The cast is a key element of why this film is so good.

I have mostly been a fan of The Hunger Games franchise in the past. The story of a poor girl fighting to survive and eventually thrive was one I thought was fascinating. The dichotomy of the capital and all the rich people and their extravagant lifestyles played nicely opposite the lower-class characters. Somewhere in the middle, you have a few characters who fit into both worlds. There is a similar thing in the real world of the country most of us live in as well. If you work hard you can achieve success even if you’re on the bottom and you have to still work hard if you’re on the top as well to keep your success. We can all relate to that idiom. 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a fantastic adaptation of the amazing book of the same name. The acting by its two stars Blyth and Zegler is terrific. They complement each other very nicely. The songbird and the stoic hard-edged capital man who has dreams of being the president of Panem one day. The over-the-top performances by Davis, Dinklage and Schwartzman are all delightful. The technical aspects are all complimentary of the script. The story is the main thing that makes this prequel work so well. Like the other films in the franchise this is about the haves and have nots. That Has always been the best part of these films and Lawrence and Lionsgate are aware of this fact. It works for fans and critics. 

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen