This review contains spoilers for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
The Hunger Games movies have always brought with them a lot of highs and lows for fans, and “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes” movie was no different. Personally, I loved the first two, but both Mockingjay movies were a let down and I did not appreciate the story being three parts. I am not a “read the book before the movie” person, so when the new movie came out, I immediately planned a day to go to the theater and see it. Now after seeing the movie, the $200 million the movie made within the first few weeks of release made sense to me.
The trailers for this movie gave me a lot of hope and made the movie look like a must-see. One important thing to point out about this movie is that it is extremely long and it is a commitment. The movie is broken down into three parts, and in my personal opinion, could have been split into two movies—despite how much I hate when franchises do that. It is a prequel to the original Hunger Games so the movie has a lot of similarities and interesting connections for fans to make. The arena where the games took place, however, was pitiful and nothing compared to what fans are used to.
The acting in this movie was top-notch and the connection between Corioalanus Snow and Lucy Gray was electric. Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler play their parts so well and the audience can feel their connection through the screen. The overall storyline of the movie was good and it flowed well and truly showed Snow’s gradual descent into madness and the transition he makes to become the villain he is known as later in the series.
There is a lot that takes place in the last part of the movie that advances the plot, but it almost seemed like too much. There were so many plot elements that could have used a deeper explanation and, personally, I would have liked to see more of the romantic side after he risked his life to go find her. It just felt like the audience got snubbed of seeing how the final part of their story plays out, which is disheartening because that is the main part of the movie where you see Snow go from in love to insane.
Although the movie and the acting was good, I was highly disappointed in the ending of the movie. It felt rushed and unnatural and after sitting there for two and a half hours, I expected more. I did like that the ending left a lot of loose ends for the audience to assume and theorize over, but it did not do this cinematic piece justice.
