The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023): Recap, Review and Reflection
Two most important questions for this post. (1) Are you a fan of the Hunger Games franchise like me? and (2) Did you watch the new Hunger Games movie? If you answered yes and yes.. Please stay as I need to know if my thoughts are controversial or not. If you answered no in either one or two questions, you can consider this post to be one of the opinions before you decide to go see it or not.
Hello, film fans all over the world! I'm NomNomNoodle and this is my first post here in the Movies and TV shows community. Quick introduction: watching movies has not only been my hobby since I can remember but also a big part of my life as I grew up.
For my side job/hobby, I got lucky enough to get to go to movie premieres to view them right before they hit the cinema, and in return, I will write a little review to share my thoughts.
For example, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is one that I was really looking forward to going to the premiere on the 13th of November (before the movie came out on the 15th). Even though I didn't get to review it soon enough after the preview, (since I wrote about Miss Universe 2023), now I don't wanna delay it anymore and am eager to see what you guys think.
In Thailand, they promoted it pretty hard. They threw a premiere party and invited lots of celebrities to take pictures with the backdrop and such. This time I was a little late due to work, but next time, I'll get some pics to show you guys what it looked like.
Now, enough of the non-related Hunger Games "Movie" review, I want to write about how I think about it overall WITHOUT ANY SPOILERS of the film so feel free to read them.
The movie tells us a story of THE HUNGER GAMES - 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute. The main character of Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth, is a young man who struggles to fit in the "rich world" of the capital. With his need for financial aid, Snow is assigned to "mentor" Lucy Gray Baird, played by Rachel Zegler, a foreign girl, who unfortunately became the tribute from District 12.
They then have to work together to survive this Hunger Games of injustice and madness. The story of Snow will be witnessed showing what and how made him "the merciless" president Snow of Panem, as we later know him.
The movie is long, like 2 hours and 40 minutes long, so get ready for that. Haha. Here, I break it into 2 major parts. The first part is about the 10th Hunger Games (The one with Katniss is the 74th Hunger Games), so it portrays how the game was started. It was just a normal arena without any hi-tech stuff like the other Hunger Games movie at all, which I loved!
I think it was so interesting to see how the game was developed to be that "cruel and crazy" and how Dr. Volumnia Gaul, played by Viola Davis, meant to create it. I enjoyed it a lot because it gave me the action and the excitement that hooked me since the first Hunger Games movie. The relationship between the tributes and the survival instinct of humans is as cruel and real as it stuck in my heart.
The latter part of the movie is something completely different from other Hunger Games franchises, which I think is a great way to go. If I were to be movie makers and producers, I wouldn't have done it any other way, but for me, it played out more like a drama and gave the audience that pressured feeling with the main character, Snow. It told us the story of what happened after the game. I do love that it takes time to show us multiple and various sides of Snow and like I said in the beginning, to take us on the journey of how he became "the President Snow".
Overall, I like the movie, but since it was a little long and like I said.. At the time a lot of drama is kinda dragged out for me. I'd love it if it were to be shorter or faster. That's it. For me, it's the pacing of storytelling of this part was kinda underwhelming. But all those complaints aside, I'm really impressed with how the movie is able to show us the "grey" side of a human being. We all have different roles with different possibilities and there's always this question ringing in our head, how do we combine that with our beliefs and core values that we had inside of us.
The movie gave me great reflection on the "battle" of the definition of good-bad, right-wrong, should-shouldn't a lot. And that's something I felt all of us can relate to in real life and that's one huge reflection I got from watching the movie. That's one great thing about dystopian movies, it would take us to the most extreme imagination to make us see these kinda lessons, which we might not be able to access it in normal life.
Lastly, I had to scream an enormous fat SHOUT OUT to the cast. They were all so freaking amazing and every minute of it, I was buying what they were selling. All the costumes and production were great and unbelievably both out of this world (as it's a dystopia) and realistic (in that world, as it were to exist)
I think I already said a lot about Blyth's performance, but he portrayed such a remarkable and various side of Snow. He made me understand how one can be so "grey" as a human is. He kept Snow's poise and grace while being determinedly vicious. Apart from that, he's so cute and charming.
Zegler, for me, who was kinda biased of about how she misbehaved lately, is also a great Lucy Grey Baird. She sings beautifully and so full of emotions. Her acting might sometimes be off, but overall I think she captured the essence of the character quite well.
I've been a Davis fan for a long time, since the movie "The Help", I knew she CAN ACT. And this is another time that she embodies the mad scientist "Dr. Gaul" too well. Even the way she speaks, you can feel how she only sees the tribute as her lab rat and will do anything in her power to keep the game. Phenomenal acting class from. At one point though, I hope she will be a little more classy with her look. This was kinda too messy, well it suits her character well, I know.
I was so excited to see Tyrion Lannister in another franchise that I like other than the Game of Thrones. I'm not sure if it was just me or I pretty much stuck with the picture of a drunk Lannister. But in this movie, he's also that drunk character who's always pessimistic. He didn't appear as much but you'll see how important this character is to the franchise and Snow. With his charm and intelligence, Dinklage can be Dean Highbottom who drowns in sorrow throughout the movie.
I apologize that this review got a little too long (like the movie itself lol). I realized that as I started writing about it, it was so many things to say about it. If you're still with me, please let me know if you agree with me or any points that you disagree with, I'd be so happy to just let this love and excitement for this movie out with you guys.
PS. The ticket photo is mine but all the official movie photos are from source 1 and source 2.
I'll write the review again, especially if I get another chance for the movie premiere. However, I don't think I could write this long for the next one haha. So I hope to see you guys soon :)
Let's stay supportive for the entertainment industry and keep watching great movies, guys
Khob khun kaa,
Nomnomnoodle 🍜
I love movies like this and I would consider it a nice one to watch
It's one of the big movie this year for sure! You should definitely check it out. I'm such a big big fan of dystopia movie like this because it can be whatever we've never see in normal life, which is the reason why I love watching the movies.
I certainly will check it out because movies like this gets my attention and from the view of things, it gonna be so interesting and fun to watch.. I will also give a review on it when I watch it. Thanks for your time.
Oooh yes! I'm looking forward to read your review too. Please let me know too when you get to write it.
Alright I sure will let you know
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STOPI never really watched the Hunger Games movies so I can't say if this one was good compared to those but you're review definitely made me want to check it out. Even just cause Peter Dinklage is in it.
Dinklage was so good! I wish he would have more air-time though just because I like him so much too. You don't even need to watch the other franchise, since this one happened way before all those Katniss Hunger Games. Still, it'd be nice to watch them too because there's a lot of easter eggs here and there to find. ;) LMK if you get to see it.
Hi @nomnomnoodle I am happy to be a part of this community and hope to make many friends here. Now I start my new life after prison. I will be grateful for your support.
Welcome to Hive! I'm still new here myself. So, let's learn about it together :))
that would be great, thank you for your support, everyone here is so friendly I love hive
Glad to see that the movie filled your expectations, I'm not a big Hunger Games fan but I appreciate the world building of the first movies.
Thank you so much! Yea the idea and the concept of the movie is very interesting, especially that they involved kids to see the injustice of the world.
Question 1: Yes
Question 2: No
Been so so busy at work recently that I can barely find much time for any sort of entertainment! But hoping to catch the movie some time soon, before that no longer screen it in the theatres! 😢
Heyy @ak08 it's been a while! I was wondering what you're up to but it's great to see you indeed. OOOhh if you love the franchise please watch it so we can talk about it haha but ye I believe you gotta make schedule work because it does take a pretty while to finish the movie. lol
Haha yeah just wondering if my work schedule allows me to take that break for a 2h40mins movie! 😅
Yeah sorry been really busy recently so wasn't as active as I would like to on this platform. Hoping for better days ahead! 🙏
Great review! I appreciate the spoiler-free insights and agree the franchise explores thought-provoking themes. Looking forward to watching the film 🤗.
this means a lot to me @petermoor ! Thank yoy for your kind compliments :))
That's a nice review!! I also watched the movie over the weekend and I also wrote a review about it earlier! Hehe! I am not a fan of the Hunger Games or have never watched the previous movies, but I really enjoyed this one! :)
Thank you so much for your kind comments! Glad to hear that you enjoyed the movie because I think for people who's not a fan of this franchise might get a little confused at first about this world and how it works, but glad that you find good points in there and I'll be sure to read your review too :))
No estaba muy convencida de ver la película.. de hecho, la vería solo por Viola Davies, pero leerte me hizo querer verla! Luego comentamos jaja.
Viola Davis is EVERYTHING! another masterpiece of her really!
Aún no le he visto pero tengo altas expectativas de esta película espero que superen a sus películas anteriores.
I never imagined that going back to the past would bring something so positive to this franchise, because this movie was a real success (at least in terms of text).
They have made so much money already!