The newly released Hunger Games movie titled The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes serves as a prequel to the original Hunger Games released in 2012. This film will be the fifth installment in The Hunger Games series. The star actors in the movie include Rachel Zegler who plays Lucy Gray Baird, Tom Blyth who plays President Snow, Hunter Schafer who plays Tigris Snow, Jason Schwartzman who plays Lucretius, Peter Dinklage who plays Casca Highbottom, and Viola Davis who plays Dr. Volumnia Gaul. Director Francis Lawrence, who conducted the original Hunger Games movies, also directed the new Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes film as well. This film is definitely a long one, as it is 2 hours and 45 minutes. Some might think that a movie that long will get boring and become repetitive, but that was definitely not the case for this film. For the entirety of the movie, I was engaged, entertained, and on my toes for what was going to happen next. All of the action, drama, and adventure that this movie held had everyone so excited to see how it would end.
After watching it, I would rate the movie 4 out of 5 stars. I wouldn’t give it a perfect score because for me, I had hopes that it would be very similar to the original movies, but it wasn’t even comparable to Jennifer Lawrence’s Hunger Game series. The actor who played Snow was great, he portrayed so many different personalities and traits within his role and it was done in an amazing way. The actor who played Lucy Gray was the perfect fit and I couldn’t envision anyone else playing that role. Her singing was the essence of the film and the songs she sang were incredible. All things considered, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes presents an intriguing perspective on the prospective Panem president by contrasting him with the feisty Lucy Gray Baird. The films standout features are their relationships and the development of their individual and collective characters, without resorting to being a clone of the original Hunger Games. The ending to the movie was the part I was waiting for the whole time, I didn’t like the way it ended, but in the sense of the storyline, it suited it well by leaving the audience with a cliffhanger. Overall, if you are a fan of The Hunger Games, whether or not you have read the books or not, should really go to see The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes because it truly was an amazing movie that you will think about for days.
