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
  • bootsnchaps - 21 June 2024
    Hunger Games, The Musical!
    Far too much times spent on musical numbers which tended to be average at best. All the characters seemed much older than teens and younger,that made the prior HG's horror credible. None of these tributes were innocents. And I agreed with grandmam, Lucy was no girl. Why was she Baird intially but not later?

    I kept waiting for Snow to develop but he seemed to become a protege of the scenery chewing Viola Davis off-screen. I kept thinking "that must have been why he did x" but the movie didn't take me there.

    It was nicely shot and reasonably paced . But it did not draw me in like the other 4 HG films.
  • sandhanat - 13 June 2024
    Worth your time
    The movie does a good, if not awesome, justification to the prequel of the hunger games trilogy and lives up to the legacy of the franchise. The story has been modified in some places in order not to make the movie very long, but those scenes are good too. The movie shows Snow as a not-so-bad guy whose instantaneous decisions in the wake of the circumstances prevailing around him shape him into what he becomes in the end. The makers of the film have tried their best to make Snow's character development as good as in the book within a limited span of 2 hours and 30 minutes. The cinematography was commendable. Fans of the book will definitely like the movie.
  • henry8-3 - 3 June 2024
    The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
    Prequel to The Hunger Games films seen through the eyes of Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) who would become President Snow in the first films as played by Donald Sutherland. Expecting to win the prestigious Plinth Prize, Snow and his colleagues are told at the last minute that the prize will go to the one who best mentors the competitors (tributes) in the 10th hunger games. Split between strict adherence to the rule of law and some understanding of the rebel's cause, Snow falls for his Tribute, Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler). However, continually supported by evil games keeper Gaul (Viola Davis) he keeps his options open when he is sent to district 12 for cheating in the games.

    There is a decent sense of an epic story here, with Blyth giving a good performance popping between adoration for Lucy Gray and needing to get on up. He does this very well, but the whole thing is still at 157 minutes way too long. There are some good scenes throughout including in the notorious games, but it's mostly a love story littered with political chicanery and betrayal. Much better than I was expecting, but 30 minutes too long.