Content warning/Editors note: this review will feature spoilers for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
“The Hunger Games,” by Suzanne Collins, is the first book in The Hunger Games trilogy, releasing Sept. 14, 2008. After the major success of the first book, Collins went on to write two more books in the series, each gaining more and more of a following to Collins’s written dystopian society. With demanding popularity, Lionsgate made four corresponding movies to complement the books. Fans were hungry for more Hunger Games, but were left starving up until May 19, 2020, the release date of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” (BOSAS)—a prequel set 64 years before the original trilogy, following the life of President Snow before his tyrannical reign over Panem. Three years later, the movie adaptation has taken the box office by storm, but is it really worth the hype?
As someone who has read every book and seen every movie, the movie adaptation of the BOSAS follows the book it’s based on very accurately. One major difference between the original trilogy movies and the prequel is the division of plotlines in both the book and movie. The BOSAS is divided into three different parts within one movie. Each part mirrors a plotline in the book, showcasing different parts of Snow before becoming a dictator.
Although maintaining a PG-13 rating, BOSAS is more gruesome than the original movie trilogies counterparts. There are a few scenes that are more difficult to watch than others, however, especially during the 10th annual Hunger Games. The visual choices for how the tributes are murdered using the resources and objects around them focuses quite a bit on how quickly humans will turn against each other in order to survive. Mortality is something that is greatly taken for granted, and in the tributes’ death scenes, the audience took in the weight of what was done, and carried it for the rest of the movie.
The casting for BOSAS is well done with Tom Blyth as President Snow and Rachel Zeglar as Lucy Gray Baird, but I would like to specifically mention the character Dr. Volumnia Gaul, portrayed by Academy Award Winner Viola Davis. In the novel, Dr. Gaul is portrayed as a mad scientist and Head Gamemaker of the Hunger Games. Her role in the movie from the costumes, hair/makeup, down to her facial expressions, body movements and language can only be described in one word: menacing. Whenever Dr. Gaul entered the scene, I felt like a deer in headlights. I could feel the fear that the other characters in the movie felt when they interacted with her. That is what excellent casting is supposed to do. It’s supposed to make you feel the emotions radiating throughout the characters on screen.
Whether you’re new to “The Hunger Games” series, or a long time returning fan, BOSAS is a wonderfully complex and insightful movie to watch.
