Ephemeris of the Mind (Film Review) The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Time to read: 2 min read
Movie Poster
It's the things we love most, that destroy us.
Previous Hunger Games film reviews:
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- The Hunger Games
Review
Based on the last novel taking place in the Hunger Games universe, the story follows a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) as attempts to restore his family’s status in the Capitol through mentoring Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the tribute from District 12 in the 10th Hunger Game, where tribute children are forced to fight to the death.
The book was perhaps my favourite Hunger Games the novel and the film tries its best to capture the themes and story points from the book. Unfortunately, it does fall quite short; for one, Snow’s character development is drastically cut and Blyth’s Snow feels relatively one-dimensional compared to the constantly conflicted Snow in the novel. Blyth’s Snow and Zegler’s Lucy Gray also have very little chemistry. I did enjoy Peter Dinklage’s Casca Highbottom but found the other supporting characters, such as Viola Davis’ over the top Dr. Gaul and Josh Andrés Rivera’s dry Sejanus Plinth, to be lacking compared to their book counterparts. Despite this, it was cool to see the scenes of the book being portrayed visually in a faithful manner.
Conclusion
Probably a decent movie if you've not read the book.