The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Directed by Francis LawrenceThe story of Coriolanus Snow, years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem. He is young, very determined and though the Snow family has fallen on hard times, Coriolanus sees a chance for a change in his fortunes when he is chosen to be a mentor for the 10th Hunger Games only to have his elation dashed when he is assigned to mentor a girl tribute named Lucy Gray Baird from the impoverished District 12.
Cast of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Ratings & Reviews
- Das_LamaJuly 4, 2025Please tell me this is the end of this awful series. Rachel Zegler, ugh.
- rg9400November 1, 2024I was not a fan of the original book, and so I went into this movie with very low expectations. Because of that, I was actually pleasantly surprised by it. I don't think it fixes all of my issues with the book. The ending feels like a separate story and is definitely rushed, and because of that, the characters make decisions that seem a bit odd. Snow is simply not an interesting character to follow, and the prequel nature of it means we know where things will end up. And some of the random origins and worldbuilding feel a bit fanservice-y. Also, Rachel Zegler's Southern accent was distracting and hurt her overall performance. So why am I positive about it with all those negatives? For one thing, the movie allows for the characters to feel more dynamic without having to be stuck in Snow's perspective and without voicing a ton of first-person narration. Their motivations get pushed into the interiority of the actors, which I think works better as it allows for more complexity in what the viewer might feel they are thinking. The movie is pretty entertaining and engrossing. Zegler's accent may not work, but she's a phenomenal singer with plenty of gravitas, which works very well for Lucy Gray's character. And most shocking of all, I really was impressed with how the movie looks. Instead of feeling like a 200m+ budgeted blockbuster that just sort of entails a CGI-fest, this movie is shot on location with plenty of wide angles. I am becoming more and more convinced that these large budgets are extremely unnecessary as movies with half the budget routinely end up looking significantly better than them. Overall, I think it's worth a watch.
- Kevin WardJuly 2, 2025Turns out Coriolanus and Sejanus….both assholes in the end. Kudos to the casting director. Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow has the perfect look, and is excellent in all aspects of Snow’s complicated origin story. Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman is 🤌🏼🤌🏼. So funny and has substantially all of the funniest lines of dialogue. Plus, he seriously looks and sounds like a relative of the great Stanley Tucci. Rachel Zegler — —Holy f🤩k, can she sing. I mean we knew this, but still it’s always impressive to see and hear. Peter Dinklage period. End of sentence. But my goodness, Viola Davis is easily my favorite casting as Dr Volumnia Gaul. Sinister and menacing and just completely commands every scene she’s in. Just wish we had more and/or hoping we get more in the next one. As someone who wasn’t super excited to go back to the Hunger Games Franchise, consider me absolutely sucked back in. I really loved the story told here, so a lot of credit to author Suzanne Collins. Prequels always scare me especially when we’re doing things like turning antagonists into protagonists. I always fear that the new entry is going to essentially undo some of the narrative of the original films. So far, at least, I’m completely riveted by where this story has gone and where it can go from here. And I can see why Lionsgate seems to be pulling out all the stop in promoting this. On the negative side, film felt longer than it needed to be. After the conclusion of the 10th annual hunger games on a somewhat climactic story beat, the films pacing comes to a screeching halt and takes a bit to get going again. It eventually does, but it’s hard not to feel the pacing drag in that moment. The film looks and sounds excellent, particularly in IMAX. This is no where near as VFX heavy as the original 4 films. The games themselves essentially take place in a single gladiator style arena and naturally aren’t really cinematically interesting or varied as the “future” hunger games become. I appreciate the narrative consistency of having a more primitive take on the games, but it does make the event itself feel a bit underwhelming. We don’t even really get to know any of the other tributes. So, I would calibrate expectations accordingly. All in all, I’m very impressed with the story and cast and am excited to see where the future installments take us.
- StefanMay 18, 2025Fairly enjoyable to watch, though some of the suspense is lost because the fate of the characters was already known or predictable, even without having read the book.
- Tiffie StarchildApril 21, 2025I’m obsessed with The Hunger Games and had to revisit this movie after finishing the latest novel, Sunrise on the Reaping. I still haven’t read the book for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (I knoooow!) - so though I don’t know how closely it sticks to the source material, this movie is SO enjoyable in a very tense and dystopian kind of way 🙂.
- OlarflixApril 3, 2025it was aight
- NShergillApril 14, 2025The movie did follow the book, but I didn’t like the book itself. Snow and Lucy Gray didn’t have a believable love story in the book or the movie so I didn’t understand his villain arc. Also, why did Lucy Gray have an accent? It really threw me off. The ending could have been longer since if it was already almost 3 hours MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.
- RyezooFebruary 4, 2025If this happened to me. I too would have become a villain! Pleasantly surprised by this. I enjoyed revisiting this world that I haven’t been in since the last one. The sets, sounds, and costumes were all great. The acting for the most part is also solid. Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman are all on there A game. I’ve never seen the actor that played Snow before but he was a good lead. Rachel Zegler was decent but slightly annoying character quite a few times. Could of used with less singing. This makes me really want to revisit the original films!
- cyber4515March 22, 2025Meh. The whole thing was meh. Hard to find a character to like and the story was predictable
