The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

⭐ 10.0/10

(Originally written by Beans)

This is the prequel to the original hunger games series and takes place 64 years before them. It showcases the 10th annual hunger games and introduces a lot of the ideas we saw in the later years.

I really loved this movie. This franchise is very dear to my heart and this movie was no different. Although I didn’t like the book as much as the OG, this movie stands up there with the best. The set pieces were awesome, the costumes, all of it was perfect. The casting couldn’t have been better and Rachel Zegler really stole the show. She filmed all of her singing scenes live on set!

Slight spoilers ahead, but something the movie didn’t do well in my opinion was showing how evil snow was turning. In the book he is presented with many options to do good or bad, and he always chooses bad. Here his actions are often justified. I know that’s hard to do in a movie, and it wasn’t a big deal to me, just something I noticed.

There were a few call backs to the OG hunger games that made me gasp and giggle every time. I really think no one has done the dystopian genre quite like these movies.