On Mar. 23, 2012, The Hunger Games debuted and rocked the nation’s box offices by raking in $153 million on its opening weekend. The series, starring well-known actors such as Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Woody Harrelson, shocked the nation as young kids were shown being exploited and assassinated on movie screens across the country. With blood, gore, and ingenuity, the series depicts the harrowing tale of rebellious Katniss Everdeen and her arduous journey against The Capitol, and more importantly, against President Coriolanus Snow.
The heartbreaking, horrific journey of young Katniss paired with the masterful uses of rhetorical devices planted throughout the film quickly made The Hunger Games a sensation, breathing new life into the dystopian genre.
Nearly a decade after the series’ final installation, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, premiered, the complex dystopian civilization of Panem has been cast on screens across America in one final display of glory. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy, premiered on Nov. 17, 2023, and I volunteer as tribute to give you the full rundown of this final installment.
Although I was only 9 years old when The Hunger Games came out (and it undeniably gave me nightmares for weeks watching young Rue die), it became my favorite series of all time as I got older. And I mean the kind of “favorite series” that I would commit entire days to so I could watch all 4 of the movies back-to-back – the kind of “favorite series” that I can recite each and every line to because the scripts have been forever ingrained in my mind.
Loving the original series this much, you can probably imagine how thrilled I was in 2022 when I heard there was a fourth movie coming out. (No, I have never and will never read any of the books but that is a story for another time.) Despite this excitement, part of me always dreaded watching the movie when the time came because I feared it would not do the original series justice. It’s all too common for second, third, fourth, or fifth installments of movies to disgrace the original and end the saga on a bad note. Have you ever seen a prequel or sequel of a movie you loved and thought to yourself, I did not need to watch that or even worse, the series was better without that? Yep, me too. (cough, cough, Toy Story, Mean Girls, Grease…) For crying out loud, sometimes a good thing just needs to be left alone!
After investing my money and time into this film, I am happy to report that I am so glad Suzanne Collins and the good people at Lionsgate Films did not choose to leave the good thing alone.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was absolutely fantastic. Walking into the movie, I had extremely high expectations because I fully believe the original series is one of the most well thought-out, intentional, artistic films of our time. So, of course, any addition to the series had big shoes to fill. And my God, did this movie fill the f*ck out of those shoes.
Everything about this movie was absolute perfection. Don’t worry, I’ll get into all of the details of the specific things I loved most about it, but first, I want you to raise whatever expectations you have of this movie because I promise it will not let you down. Get excited, people! Oh, and there will be spoilers in this article so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, turn back now. You’ve been warned!
Watching this movie in the theater, my first reaction was what a fantastic job they did with choosing a cast. Although I initially wasn’t sure about the actor cast as Lucy Gray, Rachel Zegler, her performance on stage with the Covey and throughout the game in the arena proved she was the perfect choice. She brought a real underdog energy to the game, which of course, I loved. (Psst. and that was the first parallel I noticed between her and our girl, Katniss Everdeen. More on that later.)
Don’t even get me started on Viola Davis as Head Gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul. I swear, everything that woman touches turns to gold, and this role was no exception. The flare and eclectic energy she brought to the character, combined with Dr. Gaul’s signature twisted sickness made for a remarkable performance on Davis’ part. There could not have been a better candidate for this role.
Honorable mention to the entire cast of this movie because I truly loved them all, but I am obligated to put in the limelight the overall shining star, Tom Blyth, of course. While I had no idea what to expect of how a young Coriolanus Snow would look or sound, how he would convey himself or what his attitude toward the games would be, the last thing I expected was a performance this outstanding from Blyth. I’m not sure what it is about him – I’m stuck somewhere between his naive, kind heart and his youthful intelligence – but he embodied young Coriolanus Snow so, so perfectly. I cannot emphasize that enough.
The second thing that stood out to me was the name choices. The quirky, unique names of all the characters in this movie were the perfect homage to the eccentric names from the original Hunger Games series. Some of my favorite names from past movies are Effie Trinket, Clove, Cashmere, Gloss, Glimmer, Finnick Odair, and Plutarch Heavensbee. This movie brought us Volumnia Gaul, Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, Vipsania Sickle, Clemensia Dovecote, and Coral, among others. All I can say is chef’s kiss.
These peculiar names were right on track with the energy the names brought to previous films. Maintaining this consistency showed the history behind the names from prior movies. It also painted Panem in a fascinating light, evidencing that names this strange have always been the norm for Panem citizens.
One of the most astounding aspects of this film was seeing the arena of the 10th Annual Hunger Games. Although we unfortunately never see the arena from the first games, it is alluded to in this movie that the arena had not changed at all in the decade since the games began. The arena (which feels strange to even call it that) in this movie was the absolute bare bones of what I thought a Hunger Games arena could ever look like. Small, simple, with minimal obstacles or hiding places, and no hint of nature at all, the 10th Annual Games arena was essentially a concrete gymnasium. Although it is scary to imagine competing in the Hunger Games in any arena, the thought of having almost no place to hide, barely any room to run around, and no natural resources to seek sustenance from makes the thought of being in the games that much worse.
The tributes were essentially all placed right on top of each other and had to, of course, fend for themselves. It is amazing how great this movie turned out considering the tributes were working in such a small space. The cornucopia in this arena was also very lackluster, barely even visible, showing how poorly funded the games were at the time. This underwhelming arena only made the movie feel more realistic and special. It demonstrated that as popularity for the games grew and more Capitol citizens began to watch, donations increased, and the games were able to become the extravagant event we witnessed in the 74th Annual Games and the Quarter Quell.
It was also very intriguing to see the other side of being a Peacekeeper. What I mean by “other side” is that while the Peacekeepers are violent, heartless, totalitarians in the original Hunger Games movies, this movie shows us a different side of them altogether. Peacekeepers before they were ever Peacekeepers. We see how demanding the job is, how inhumane, how they must follow orders despite not always feeling right about it, as evidenced by Sejanus Plinth.
Despite the fact that I could literally go on forever about all of my favorite details of this movie, the one that rang closest to home was the abundance of Easter eggs, parallels in this film to previous Hunger Games films. Coriolanus Snow’s mother smelled of roses throughout his entire upbringing, alluding to the white rose obsession we associate with Snow in the later movies. So good. The quiver full of arrows, abandoned in the arena after being used by nobody alludes to Katniss eventually fulfilling that role in her games. Amazing. Lucy Gray, the rebellious underdog chosen from District 12 in this movie has more similarities to Katniss than I can count. Of course, the traits I already mentioned. She also sang and had a close relationship with animals (snakes in her instance). She was known as the “songbird” of the games and stood out to Capitol citizens because of her ability to freely speak (or sing) her mind. And the one detail that shocked me most, Lucy Gray and Corio are fiddling with a swamp potato flower at one point in the movie, which she picks up and renames “katniss” because it “has a nice ring to it.” First of all, mind blown. Second of all, I didn’t even know that katniss was the name of a flower. (Yes, it makes sense considering her sister was named Primrose that she’d be named after a flower too, but I just didn’t know, oops.) So many parallels were drawn between her and Katniss, of course to demonstrate why Coriolanus later developed a special hatred for her during his Presidency, but they made the film all that more fascinating and sentimental. Chills, actual chills.
Last but not least, the most shocking aspect of this film. The part that truly made me walk out of the movie theater thinking to myself, what the fuck just happened? The character development of Coriolanus Snow. I’m speechless. Actually, no I’m not… I went into the theater prepared to hate Snow from Day 1 because I had only ever seen the cruel side of him demonstrated in the original Hunger Games movies. He was cruel, sinister, violent, and had no regard for the pain and suffering he caused other people. I expected no less of him in this movie, just a younger version.
I could not have been more wrong. This movie showed me all of the sides of Corio that I never imagined were there. He was kind, caring, compassionate, driven, intelligent, considerate, loyal, and shockingly, stunningly attractive. Watching him evolve from a young boy in the beginning of the movie gave me a great concept of where things first went wrong with him, why he eventually ended up being the object of Katniss’ hatred. And as the movie progresses, it becomes more and more obvious why he eventually hated Katniss Everdeen so much and why he became so dedicated to upholding the games.
It is not only fascinating to see this character arc in action, but also absolutely heartbreaking. He was such a lovely person in the beginning of this movie and the sh*t Dr. Gaul and the Capitol put him through truly rotted him to the core, setting him on a path of selfishness and violence for the rest of his life. Of course, he still had a choice in the matter, but it is glaringly clear in this film how much the societal norms of Panem f*cked him up. And he turned around to fuck Panem up even more because that’s how cycles go.
All in all, I have no idea how Tom Blyth and the writers managed to write and execute young Corio so insanely perfectly, but it was an absolute spectacle to watch. And as I mentioned before, he’s not at all unfortunate to look at, which didn’t hurt. Somehow, this movie took the bitter, cruel President Snow I previously knew and turned him into young Corio, a character I empathize with and relate to – a character I truly love. Trust me, I will never understand how I could love Coriolanus Snow now, but I do. And I hate Panem and the Capitol for ruining him and perpetuating so many generations of hatred and pain.
This movie is an absolute whirlwind of sentiment, creativity, history, and the absolute best prequel to my favorite movie series that I could have ever asked for. As I said, I only covered a few of my favorite details here but I highly recommend every Hunger Games fan see this fantastic film and look for more details themselves. I hope anyone who sees the movie finds it as captivating, nostalgic, and exceptional as I did. May the odds be ever in your favor.