Eight years have passed between Mockingjay: Part 2 and Ballad of songbirds and snakes. But in the end, The Hunger Games They are back. The iconic teenage fantasy saga returns with a prequel that, for the first time, abandons the story of Katniss. But there is a well-known character. The protagonist of this new installment is Coriolanus Snowwho was the Machiavellian villain of the originals.
Ballad of songbirds and snakes It focuses on the first years of public life of Snow. At that time, he was just an ambitious young man wanting to make a name for himself and get his family out of the ruin they had fallen into because of the war. Because the film travels back more than 60 years, to the tenth edition of The Hunger Games. In it, the protagonist will be the mentor of Lucy Gray, the District 12 tribute that year. Together they must try to win in the arena but, above all, put on a worthy show.
Which Ballad of songbirds and snakes makes it clear that it is a project made for fans of the saga. For them, the premise is tremendously attractive. Not just to see the rise of a brilliant character who is disgusted, but to see what everyone in the world was like. The Hunger Games yesteryear. The changes in Panem are substantial. The bloody show takes place in a small arena, the tributes are treated like animals… And the people of the Capitol are not the least bit interested.
Ballad of songbirds and snakes
The revival of The Hunger Games is divided into two very different parts. The first is an entertaining pastime that recovers the purest essence of the saga with very interesting details for fans. But the second, the last third of the film, completely derails, plunges into narrative chaos and messes up the final result.
A movie for fans
With the film we discover the germ of the spectacular nature of this terrible festival. The resentful aristocrats want to recover the spirit of the games, at once punishment, fun and a portrait of the human race. That is, precisely, the central axis on which the moral moral of the film aims to revolve. It is not new, it was already explored in the first installments of The Hunger Games. That’s why anyone even remotely fond of them won’t find it difficult to get into the film even one bit.
In that aspect, in addition to its own Snowthey also gain a lot of relevance Highbottom and the doctor Volumnia Gaulthe characters of Peter Dinklage and Viola Davis. Both are secondary but, with their scenes, Ballad of songbirds and snakes wins a lot of integers. His performances, as always, elevate the ensemble. And their stories are also very suggestive, precisely because of everything they suggest, because of how adults have been remodeling the world as they please until they end up in the post-apocalyptic ecosystem that fans know.
Snow, Lucy Gray and the Games
Because Ballad of songbirds and snakes It is the story of the passage from adolescence to adulthood. Snow. How a man forges his own destiny and discovers that being a good person in the circles in which he moves is not an easy task. Of course, the actor Tom Blyth deserves a special mention. The film lasts more than two and a half hours, but at all times it is held on her shoulders. Having the camera constantly following him does not weigh him down, and with its interpretation it perfectly portrays the ambiguities and internal debates that he faces.
Next to him is Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray. The actress has a very short career in the world of cinema. She debuted in the industry as the lead of West Side Story of Steven Spielberg. That was followed by an internship in the world of superheroes on the loose. Shazam! The fury of the gods, where she is unremarkable. Furthermore, it will be Snow White in the live-action remake of disney and will participate in the highly anticipated Paddington 3. But is that Ballad of songbirds and snakes It is only his third film. And although there are moments where the script doesn’t help, when it is given a moment to shine it is impressive. He oozes charisma from all sides and devours the screen. She is a rising star with plenty of talent to establish herself if she follows the right steps.
The last big element in its favor is the games themselves. The two films of Mockingjay They focused on something other than the preparation and the fight itself in the arena. Ballad of songbirds and snakes returns to the essence of the saga with the interesting passage of Lucy Gray for them. In a very different way than Katniss -completely voluntary to avoid comparisons-, the young woman has to win over the public, her mentor and do everything possible to survive without betraying herself. The result is as simple and predictable as it is effective. A very decent popcorn blockbuster.
The insane ending of Ballad of songbirds and snakes
For an hour and a half, the film runs at a good pace. It’s nothing particularly amazing or exciting, it has its ups and downs. The first is its starting point, since anyone who has seen the other films or read the books will find it very difficult to empathize with Snow, no matter how hard the film tries and no matter how striking it is on paper. But it does its job well, to entertain. However, suddenly Part 3 arrives. And everything becomes a tedious and eternal disaster that seems like it will never end. The Hunger Games end and the story of Snow keep going. And with this, what was a plot of survival and maturity becomes too many things at the same time, without anything making sense and causing the rhythm to be greatly diminished.
On the one hand, a story of rebellion and desire for freedom is presented. On the other is a romance. At the same time there is a subplot of workers’ revolution. There are betrayals, tense moments, and also happy ones. And many songs. But it is in this stretched ending where it is discovered that, in reality, the last third of Ballad of songbirds and snakes It should have been another movie. They tried to cover so many things that in the end none of them were treated well. The scenes move from one to another in a disjointed and clumsy manner, evidencing very rough editing and cutting work. Bullets in the air. Half of the things don’t matter and the other half have a disastrous development. Probably, with more time of footage, the result would have been very different. Especially because of the abrupt change compared to the first two parts.
In the end, that bittersweet taste in the mouth considerably tarnishes and weighs down a film that could have been a good rebirth for the franchise. The Hunger Games. The public will be the one to pass judgment, since the potential for a new saga is there. But more is not always better, and Ballad of songbirds and snakes he had to settle for playing it safe. The first film that is proposed is attractive and entertaining. The second, to forget. But they must be judged together.