The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) Movie Review 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) Movie Review 

One of the most popular trends we are seeing in modern media, is the rise of the anti-hero and hero origin stories. In recent years we have seen films such as; Cruella, Venom and its sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Morbius, Madame Web, Joker and Maleficent and its sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. Each of these films has made a big impact at the box office, showcasing the audiences’ hunger for seeing films with this type of story. It was only a matter of time before we received a feature adaptation of Suzanne Collins Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and in 2023 we got exactly that.

‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ is an origin story for President Snow. The film follows Coriolanus Snow (played by Tom Blyth) during the events of the 10th annual Hunger Games. Snow forms a relationship with District 12’s tribute Lucy Gray Baird (played by Rachel Zegler) and as their romance grows, Snow’s plans to rise in the capital do as well. The film arrived during a turbulent time in Hollywood, becoming the first release to come to terms with the Writing and Acting Guild amid the strikes. The film continued the trend of great box office returns, grossing just shy of $340 million at the global box office, showing there is still a lot of interest from audiences all over the world in The Hunger Games franchise. As a fan of Suzanne Collins' book and a lover of the Hunger Games franchise, I was very excited to check this one out, and boy oh boy, did it not disappoint!

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is one of the best villain origin stories we have received to date, period. Its focus on Coriolanus Snow, and his rise to prominence is what elevates the material from being just a stock standard villain origin. The film being a focused character piece before a Hunger Games prequel, is what helps the film excel. We have a real villain here, someone who puts his needs and ideologies above those around him, which is what makes the film work. We aren’t focusing on someone who has good in him, that toes the line of being a hero, no, we have a conniving villain who is constantly plotting throughout the story and who is willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top, and that right there, is what makes the film fascinating.

The Hunger Games themselves here are also very different to what we have received before. The capital is in a far worse place than it is in the previous films. Everything feels very fragile since the war, and the disparity between the rich and the poor is only growing, very akin to a lot of issues facing our world today. Due to this, the games feel a lot more violent and gritty than they did in The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games Catching Fire. The games feel primitive, which is clearly by design, and because of this, I found them to be far more engaging as you really feel each brutal kill, with the stakes feeling like they’re at an all time high. This is all elevated by series veteran director Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, Mocking Jay part 1 and 2). He understands the franchise and understands what makes these action sequences work.

Another strength of the film comes in the form of its two leads. Tom Blyth who plays the titular villain Coriolanus Snow is fantastic in the role, flexing his acting muscle by being charming at times, sinister in others and even sympathetic. This performance is one of the best I have seen in a villain origin story, as he really does feel like an extension of Donald Sutherland’s performance from the previous four Hunger Games films. He isn’t doing an imitation, making the role his own, but you can still feel the essence of that initial performance. Rachel Zegler is also fantastic as Lucy Grey Baird. She provides a level of confidence here, even during the dire and desperate events of the film. The character is the real spark of the rebellion, as the purposely ambiguous ending for the character, also provides a haunting note for Snow, as he will forever be watching his back, waiting for the Songbird to strike, which we all know does in the form of Katniss Everdeen. Zegler also gets to showcase her singing talents that we saw in the Steven Spielberg directed West Side Story remake. The supporting cast here are all fantastic as well, with Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, and Jason Schwartzman all in scene stealing roles!

‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ is one of the best villain origin stories I have ever seen. The film's tonal balance is perfect, and I love the way the story plays out in its three distinct parts. The film remains faithful to Suzanne Collins novel, whilst providing slight updates where necessary to make the film flow. The performances are wonderful with both Blyth and Zegler delivering powerful performances as the film's two leads and the supporting cast of Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, and Jason Schwartzman. The film works as the perfect prequel and companion piece to the original Hunger Games films, filling in gaps and providing background and context for the events in the other films. It’s the perfect prequel piece to the film. A special shout out as well to the great original song by Olivia Rodrigo ‘You can’t catch me now’.

Pick up your copy of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes below on DVD, Blu-Ray or 4K Ultra HD today, you won’t want to miss it! 2024 promises to be stacked full of great releases, so make sure you sign up to Sanity’s newsletter, so you don’t miss another major release and for all things movies, music, merchandise, shop Sanity!

Long live physical media!

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here