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Rated The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes 5/10

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the prequel to The Hunger Games, makes a peculiar choice in its storytelling perspective. It difficult to get behind Coriolanus when you know ends up as the fascist bad guy of the earlier movies.  Then there's Lucy Gray who seems to have wandered in from a musical, singing and acting in a way that's starkly different from everyone else. It's jarring, seeing her in a completely different tone compared to the rest of the cast, who are in a more traditional film setting. The movie also leans heavily into foreshadowing. Almost every other scene hints at what's to come, either in this film or in the original Hunger Games movies. While a bit of foreshadowing can be exciting, here it feels overdone, almost as if the film doesn't trust the audience to connect the dots. The film's length is another issue; it simply feels too long. In essence, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes misses the mark for me. Its ambitious approach is commendable, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. It's a film that might intrigue die-hard Hunger Games fans but could alienate those looking for a coherent, self-contained story.

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Published 2023-11-18 00:00 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere