‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes’: Review

Dir: Francis Lawrence. US. 2023. 157mins

The Hunger Games’ villain gets his origin story in The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes, a muddled but grimly compelling prequel to the hit franchise. Tracing a pivotal period in the development of young Coriolanus Snow — the man who will become the nefarious ruler of the films’ sovereign state of Panem — this action-romance provides the requisite thrills while offering new characters and narrative turns, creating a portrait of blossoming evil that is thoughtfully executed.

Muddled but grimly compelling

It has been eight years since Mockingjay – Part 2 ended star Jennifer Lawrence’s involvement with the series, which grossed approximately $3 billion worldwide over four films. Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler take centre stage in Ballad, which opens November 17 in the UK and US. But early tracking suggests there is not as much excitement as there was for the original films, raising questions about the commercial future of the series. 

Set approximately 65 years before The Hunger Games, Ballad introduces us to teenage Coriolanus (Blyth), whose once-prominent family has fallen on hard times after the death of his well-respected father. Panem is preparing for the 10th edition of the annual Hunger Games, a televised contest in which representatives from each of Panem’s 12 districts, selected by lottery and known as ‘Tributes’, must fight to the death until only one is left standing. Games architect Highbottom (Peter Dinklake) announces a twist: this year, Panem’s elite students will serve as mentors to the lowly Tributes. Coriolanus is assigned to District 12 combatant Lucy Gray (Zegler) whose courage and beautiful singing have made her a favourite among the at-home audience watching the Games. Coriolanus strategises with Lucy to secure her victory, which would enable him to rescue his disgraced family from poverty.

Like the previous instalments, Ballad is based on a bestselling Suzanne Collins novel, and director Francis Lawrence (who has helmed the entire series, except for the first film) returns, adding to the sense of continuity. There is no presence as magnetic as Jennifer Lawrence in the new film, but Blyth and Zegler make for a fetching pair. Granted, their Romeo-and-Juliet love story lacks originality, although director Lawrence finds ways to enliven this familiar cinematic universe by hinting at the darkness that will soon consume Coriolanus, who was played with serene menace by Donald Sutherland in the earlier pictures.

At first, Blyth (who stars in the television series Billy The Kid) seems a bit callow, but that shallowness ultimately proves to be the point in this portrayal of an inexperienced young man desperate to return the Snow name to glory. He falls for the lovely, resourceful Lucy Gray but as the film moves beyond the Games, setting a course for new terrain that takes Coriolanus by surprise, the actor reveals other sides to this teenager which will ultimately dictate his life path. Inevitably, Ballad will draw comparisons to the Star Wars prequels, which similarly chronicled a fresh-faced youth’s embrace of wickedness. But if the narrative trajectory is predictable, Coriolanus’ transformation is organic and sobering. 

Zegler was a bright spot in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, and here again she exhibits a mixture of exuberance and smarts. Although not a carbon copy of Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen, Lucy Gray is superficially similar – which means she also resembles the scrappy/plucky heroines that populated the franchises which sprung up in the wake of The Hunger Games. Zegler’s indomitable spirit mostly sidesteps the sense of deja vu, but her burgeoning love affair feels reminiscent of other young-adult romances.

This prequel offers a look at an earlier incarnation of the Games, hosted by Jason Schwartzman’s Lucky Flickerman, whose flamboyant hair and speaking style make it obvious that he is related to Stanley Tucci’s equally showboating Caesar Flickerman. (Schwartzman manages to provide his own amusing spin on Tucci’s campy performance.) The film’s battle royale is a little more primitive, with the child combatants squaring off in an ominous arena, which grants ample opportunity for the brutal action sequences expected by fans. 

The outlandish makeup and costumes are a highlight her, especially when Viola Davis’s demented Dr. Gaul, who masterminds the Games, parades her character’s many peculiarities. With her garish hair, mis-matched eyes and devilish manner, Gaul is the sort of over-the-top eccentric that this series specialises in, and the Oscar-winner’s unbridled nastiness is delightful.

From the beginning, The Hunger Games has been a commentary on economic inequality, authoritarianism and society’s insatiable thirst for bloodthirsty spectacle, balancing troubling themes with sci-fi teen escapism. That juggling act hasn’t always been skillfully maintained, however, and the competing narrative and tonal ambitions can be distracting here. However once Coriolanus says goodbye to the Games and finds himself in District 12, the film sets off in promising new directions, allowing this impressionable young man to uncover his terrible destiny. It is his tragedy that he was born to be bad, but it is Ballad’s good fortune that his descent is so grippingly dramatised.