REVIEW #327 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

Set years before becoming President of Panhem, an 18 year old Coriolanus Snow remains the last hope for his fading Lineage. 

A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes does a brilliant job at diving into the psyche of Coriolanus Snow, providing vital context to the character we witnessed in the Hunger Games franchise. The film runs for 2 hours 37 minutes which is quite a hefty run time but there was plenty to dive into. Personally I think the first to acts would have made a good film in itself, ending with his banishment to the peacekeepers then a second film really exploring his time there and the events that moulded him into a cold monster. We could have seen his relationship with Lucy Gray blossom and explored even further how that eventually turned sour because it all happened pretty suddenly and quickly in the movie. I loved being back in the Hunger Games world though and although the games in this movie didn’t quite have the production value of the previous films due to it being set 65 years prior, it was still a decent watch to see how they pieced it all together. It was also interesting to see how Snow himself was the reason a lot of the key features were introduced!

One element I didn’t enjoy was the host of the Hunger Games, Lucretius, his jokes just come off as incredibly cheesy for me and although that was part of his character, it just felt ill placed and didn’t quite work for me. Now the title does include the term Ballads, but I didn’t realise quite how much Lucy Gray would sing in the strangest of moments, giving birth to a bunch of pretty hilarious memes as a result! About to be consumed and likely killed by snakes? Yeah perfect time for a cheeky song! It was very strange, not necessarily bad, but strange for sure. But overall I think the plot was pretty strong, some parts were glistened over like I mentioned, having to fit so much in one movie, but I really enjoyed it! What happened to Lucy Gray? The big mystery that will play on my mind now, I wish we knew! But I guess it’s one way to keep fans talking. Performances all round were pretty impressive, bringing to life a bunch of intriguing characters with a stacked cast too! Certainly one to watch in the cinemas.

Overall (7.8/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan

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