Snow Landed On Top: “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” is worth the watch for old and new fans of “The Hunger Games” franchise

I walked into the movie theater with hopes and expectations set high from reading the novel version of “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” and loving it. I left filled with adrenaline and the rare satisfaction that comes from a well-executed prequel or sequel — the movie adaptation is overall dynamic and imaginative.

The movie is split into three parts, mirroring its paper precursor. With each part comes a palpable shift in the lead, Coriolanus Snow — played by the captivating Tom Blyth — as we watch him transform from earnest student to power hungry future president of Panem. 

Prepare yourself for the occasional jump scare and don’t get too fond of any characters, as by the end of the film hardly anyone is left unscathed by the corruption Panem perpetuates. Viola Davis delivers a disarmingly twisted head of the games Dr. Gaul and as a whole each character was consistently well-cast. 

Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird was the radiant yin to Snow’s conflicted yang, the songbird to his snake. My only wish throughout the 2-hour-and-38-minute-long movie was that she’d pretty please stop singing. Each time she opened her mouth to begin another song I willed it to be the last — and this is coming from a musical lover. Zegler is an amazing singer but I felt that in such a narratively driven dystopian film her twangy voice was out of place and distracting. 

The script felt intentional, and the slow build of events made for thorough character development that can be hard to find in the typical action movie. I enjoyed the dynamic relationship between Snow and his morally fraught “best friend” Sejanus Plinth through which recurring themes of trust and dishonesty were explored. 

However, this in-depth development of the main characters came at the cost of acutely one-dimensional supporting characters who felt like they were there out of necessity rather than to play their own equally vibrant roles in the plot.

Quick break in constructively criticizing the film to sing the praises of Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, weatherman and host of the televised Hunger Games. Flickerman served as impeccably timed comic relief within an otherwise dense film and even his most subtle joke got laughs from everyone in the theater.

If you’ve read or watched the original Hunger Games series, does the name Tigris ring a bell? Probably not. Hunter Schafer plays the young and compelling version of this previously obscure character, filled with a love for fashion and her cousin Coriolanus. She presented viewers with a concrete way of measuring how far gone Snow was as he spiraled into evil, having grown up with him since the innocence of childhood.

Don’t let the daunting runtime or cast of young actors turn you away from giving this riveting movie about power and love — sprinkled with just enough madness to keep things inimitable — a watch.