The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is the latest movie to be added to the Hunger Games book and movie franchise. It is based on the most recent book which explores the backstory of President Coriolanus Snow.

I really like the Hunger Games franchise. The first The Hunger Games has received one of the highest ratings on my website with me being unable to fault it in my review written two years ago. I have also written a Compared review of the other three movies. Whilst the later three movies do not match my love for the first movie, I still enjoy these movies. I read The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes not long after the book was released in 2020. I can't say I enjoyed the book very much; the characters weren't very likable and it didn't cause you to feel any sympathy or understanding for President Snow. I didn't have very high expectations for the movie, however, I am very pleased to say that, as is the general trend of the Hunger Games franchise, the movie was much better than the book.

It was a few years ago that I read the book so it isn't fresh in my mind, but the characters that were seen on-screen seemed to perfectly match the picture in my head when reading the book. The movie made these characters much more likable and, unlike the book which had a real lack of characters to connect with, the movie created a battle in the viewer's mind of who to root for. The characters who appear in the original movies, such as Tigris and Snow, were immediately recognisable in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. The movie saw these two being played at an age where their motives were different and certain events hadn't yet occurred to define them, however, their mannerisms were true to the other movies and their growth throughout the movie saw their personalities at the end of the movie to be much closer to what we see in the original movies. Although I wouldn't say that you felt sympathy for Snow's character by the end of the movie, you certainly had a greater sense of understanding of his character and why he did the things that he did.

I'm sure I missed a fair bit having only seen all of the movies once, but there were plenty of references in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes to the original movies. It really felt like we were part of the same world and dealing with the same characters. The way the movie set out to establish this world as the old Panem was quite clever. The movie used a mix of futuristic and vintage elements making it very clear to the audience that the movie is set in the future but still older than The Hunger Games.

I should talk about the violence in this movie. The Hunger Games franchise is no stranger to disturbing violence due to the outrageous idea that is the backbone of the franchise, however, the violence is generally suggested and never explicitly seen on-screen. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes upholds this trend with some disturbing scenes but never anything too graphic. There are also a fair number of jump scares which is something to keep in mind when watching this movie (if you're like me and jump scares literally make you jump).

I was under the impression that this movie was going to be a 'part I' and only show half of the story seen in the book. So throughout the movie, I was expecting it to end abruptly. However, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is actually the full book. I was expecting to be discussing the best approach to a book-to-movie adaptation in this review. I was going to ask what the most desirable approach is: whether it be to make the movie in two parts, have just a really long movie, or have a rushed movie. Fortunately, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes managed to avoid all three of these. The movie was on the long side, but I have to say that it didn't feel like 2 hours and 37 minutes. At a couple of points, the movie felt slightly rushed but the key points were always communicated and I do not think it is at all necessary to read the book first (in fact, I might even advise against it).

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes went well over my expectations. I was hoping that I'd enjoy the movie but after reading the book, I knew that it might not turn out to be a very good movie. But I am very happy to report that The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a terrific movie! I would say that you have to be a Hunger Games fan to truly enjoy and appreciate the movie, but Hunger Games fans will not be disappointed. This is how you do a page-to-screen adaptation right!

Director: Francis Lawrence

Starring: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Viola Davis

Year released: 2023

My rating: 8.5/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 26/11/2023