The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a super-prequel to the Hunger Games. Taking place when President Snow is very young, the film lets the audience know what happened in the beginning Hunger Games.

The director is the same as the other later Hunger Games movies, Francis Lawrence. He also directed I Am Legend and 2005's Constantine. The film seems the same as the other, but the writing feels vastly different and that might be because of Michael Lesslie who wrote the horrible Assassin's Creed movie. The message in the film is unambiguous that: behind every great man there's a strong woman. The problem is that Rachel Zegler doesn't give off strong woman vibes. There were other messages about how the elite subjugated the poor and disenfranchised and humanizing victims which was very popular in 2023.

There was something off about Rachel Zegler's accent throughout the film. She was supposed to be country but acts like a New Yorker or perhaps a Phili-girl. She's insufferable and inauthentic. Her costume is much higher in quality for a supposed poverty-ridden district. Her singing isn't up to what I expected from her. I heard she could sing from West Side Story but I don't see it here. She sure did angrily sing through a lot of the movie.

Coriolanus Snow is played by Tom Blyth. He isn't really known for much but after this film, he might be getting more roles. He does a decent job playing a young Snow. He has to play the part written for him so it's odd to see the main character pushed to the sidelines for his love interest to take center stage but none of that is his fault.

It is certainly better than Mockingjay Part 2 but it's still pretty poor. Result: D.

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The Smashing Machine (2025)

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