Movie Review - The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

There were a few things to like, but a whole bunch of "what the #$%@ are they doing" in this movie.

The Good

The acting was generally good. Headlining the effort is Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow. I thought he had a solid performance as the young Snow. I was especially impressed with Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul. I think people underestimate how hard it is to portray such a wackadoo character. There's little for the actor to imitate, they have to embody a completely foreign persona. Kudos to Viola. And of course Peter Dinklage made a monument of a performance with only a few scenes. I haven't read the book, but I have to wonder if Susan Collins had Peter Dinklage in mind when she wrote the character. Either way, Dinklage is a master. It's the performance of these two actors that saves this movie from the dreaded D-rating.

7:42●●● 95%

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There were a few nice nuggets that echo into the Hunger Games. I especially liked Lucky Flickerman's comment that would later become, "May the odds forever be in your favor." And there were a few others here and there as well. Probably even more than I noticed since it's been so long since I've seen the original trilogy.

The best thing about this movie is, as my wife said, it makes me want to rewatch the original Hunger Games again. It's a trilogy long overdue for a rewatch.

The Bad, a.k.a. everything else

The story itself started out strong and went directly downhill without pause. The last 30 minutes of the movie turn into a complete meltdown of plot and character motivation. And that's unfortunate because there was so much potential if they had only gotten it right.

I'm curious what you think about the love between Coriolanus and Lucy. Did it seem that the really loved each other? Because if you ask me, I just don't buy it as anything other than young infatuation, at best.

How It Should Have Ended

This is a long-ish movie, which is fine, but the story feels like two movies. I think this could have been more entertaining if they had split this movie into two parts, the arena scenes, and then everything that happens afterward. As it is it's very disjointed. I mentioned earlier that the love between the two main characters felt forced at best. Personally, I think it would work better if Snow reluctantly falls in love with Lucy, but from the audience's perspective, it should never be clear if Lucy loves Snow, or if she's just using him because she wants him motivated to save her life. There's so much potential for dramatic conflict, both between characters and internally within each character. But it seems that the writers had no interest in exploring that.

Grade: C-

Plot Coriolanus Snow at age 18, years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem. Young Coriolanus is handsome and charming, and though the Snow family has fallen on hard times, he sees a chance for a change in his fortunes when he is chosen to be a mentor for the Tenth Hunger Games. only to have his elation dashed when he is assigned to mentor the girl tribute from impoverished District 12.