The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

I know very little about The Hunger Games. I was just a little too old when the books came out for them to be essential, and I always intended to read them before watching the movies. That never happened, so I never saw the films. Of course, I know the general outline and characters and such, partially from friends, partially from cultural osmosis, and partially because I’ve seen Battle Royale. But that means if this movie is to work, it can’t assume I know what it’s talking about. It needs to figure out how to build its world and explain it without boring vast majority of people who have likely seen at least the first movie. That also implies most callbacks and ties to the other movies and books would fly over my head, so if they’re made essential to the plot, it would lose me.

So why did I bother? Lord knows I’ve skipped most of the other big franchise films of the year (one of the benefits of being my own assignment editor). It being a prequel helped, since that signals it’s gonna be more stand-alone, making it a reasonable entry point. But also, I’d been hearing good things, starting with David Ehrlich’s review in IndieWire. And I found myself with a free evening after catching up on pending reviews, so I figured why not?

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes finds Corolianus Snow (Tom Blyth) about to graduate top of his class at the Academy, entitling him to a cash prize which he intends to use to lift his family out of poverty. However, at the ceremony, Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) announces a change in the rules. The students must mentor one of the Games’ participants, with their mentee’s performance being factored into their own marks. Corolianus is assigned Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a girl from District 12 known for her singing rather than fighting ability.

Meanwhile, Corolianus’ desire to win at all costs to help his family is set against his friend Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andrés Rivera), a radical who is vocally opposed to the existence of the Games. Corolianus spends much of the movie thinking he can work the system from the inside, and use its levers to both make the Games more effective and less brutal while also furthering his own success. To that end, he proposes some changes to head gamemaker Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis), which end up laying the groundwork for the Games to continue for generations.

The movie does a pretty great job of welcoming newcomers into its world. You need to be comfortable with just rolling with it for a bit, as they weave the details into the visuals and plot elements. But if you’re patient, just about everything is explained in time, even things as basic as how the Games work, and why they’ve been imposed. None of it feels like exposition or characters telling each other things they already know. By about 30 minutes in, I felt completely caught up and grounded in most aspects. The biggest exception is why they’re thinking of ending the games just because of lack of viewership, which is the underlying thread, and why they’re open to suggestions from students. None of the rationale we get for the importance of the Games sound to me to be invalidated by fewer eyeballs on it. But it’s not a huge detriment, just a curiosity, so it’s fine.

As the movie opens, it’s mostly focused on setting up the Games and the society and the “contestants”. And in this, I was intrigued. We get allusions to a war between the Capitol and the Districts from very recent history, which is cited at the reason for the distrust between the two societies. Although no real sense of what caused the Districts to rise up? In any case, it positions the Capitol and its inhabitants as oppressors, as looking down on people from the Districts. But also as layered. For all their prejudice, and for all the implied harsh conditions in the Districts, it’s not like all is perfect in the Capitol. Sure, their problems pale in comparison, but Corolianus’ family is about to be evicted. The family has to cobble together a shirt for him to wear to graduation. So despite their arrogance, this is clearly a society which hasn’t got it all figured out, no matter what they think.

I was most excited when they started taking aim at the fundamentals of the society. I was hoping for a dive into how militaristic and fascist the government clearly is, for that to be confronted. The inclusion of a rebel character in Sejanus was a great opening for that, as a discussion of the ethics of the Games could easily flow into questioning what type of society would think this is a good idea. Corlioalnius’ direct exposure to people from the Districts through his growing relationship with Lucy Gray is another excellent lens to help push him to doubt the world in which he was raised.

All of that is kind of there, which is largely the problem. The movie is mostly content to raise the surface level question, maybe throw in a sentence or two to start an answer, but then drop it.

For example, the opposing worldviews of Sejanus and Corolianus could make for a rich and interesting conversation. The movie doesn’t seem to agree with either of their approaches: at least, it sees flaw with both. But we get that through very short exchanges in which the characters simply state their beliefs and end with one huffing off, rather than really digging in. So they stay shallow, and it feels more like color than the point.

All the characters feel quite flat. Especially Lucy Gray, who’s my least favorite type. Zegler does a fine job, but it’s impossible to get invested in a character who’s always right and confident, and rebellious only in situations where she’s clearly rightous. Not only is she the embodiment of good in a vacuum, she’s also shown to be the most virtuous and selfless of the contestants. As soon as the Games begin, everyone else goes for the weapons, whether they join into gangs or go their own way. Only Lucy Gray and Jessup Nick Benson), the other contestant from District 12, pair up to run away and hide, and Jessup quickly succumbs to paranoia and distrust of Lucy Gray. The movie thinks it’s making her easy to root for, but it’s really undermining part of its point by arguing she deserves empathy because she’s so good, rather than simply because she’s a human being.

But this movie’s biggest sin is its pacing. It’s broken into three parts: preparation for the Games; the Games; and fallout from how the Games went down. Which is a good approach: I was getting worried that the Games were gonna consume more than half the film. But the Games and its post-script both drag on so long that you start to get lost. Especially in the aftermath, when the genre of the film flips, creating the feeling of a whole new movie. The cheese factor hits eleven, and the movie really loses its way. To be clear, the first two-thirds or so was nowhere near perfect, but they were solid and fun. The final section feels like setup for a sequel, and given its solid performance and strong hold in its second weekend, it looks likely they’ll get it.

I’ve yet to mention the best part of the film! As a fan of Wes Anderson’s work, I’m very familiar with Jason Schwartzman. So imagine my delight to see him as Lucky Flickerman, the slightly plump color commentator for the Games. He provides a ton of comedy, from his snarky one-liners to his complete and utter disregard for human life as he cackles about each death. The energy he brings is perfection. Every single thing he says is a gem. The only other actor having anywhere near as much fun is Viola Davis, although her’s takes the form of swimming in the river of ham (to steal a phrase from Kenneth Branaugh), complete with an outlandish and excellent costume.

Entertaining as they were, they couldn’t do enough to save my opinion of the film. I was reasonably engaged at certain points, so it’s not like there’s nothing here. But the movie never really found what it wanted to say, aside from some basic beats they hit over and over again. Which is all before the third act threw us a curveball which wasn’t strongly enough supported by the setup. So while the whole thing could use some tightening, it just ultimately ran out of steam, which would take some bigger restructuring to fix. As such, I look forward to passing on any future iterations in this saga.