The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023) Review

I finished the novel at the end of February. After so many months, my girlfriend, Rachel, and I can close the book, if you will, on The Hunger Games. All that remained was to watch the 2023 film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ 2020 prequel novel. I didn’t really acre for the 2020 novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Likewise, I really didn’t care for the 2023 film adaptation, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The novel is a sub-par, second shelf effort tacked on to an original trilogy years later after the fact. The same placement, and overall remarks, hold true of the film.

The same folks that brought us the last few films in the original series are back in action here. Francis Lawrence sat in the director’s chair. He also produced alongside Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson. Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt combined to write the screenplay based on Collins’ original novel. Color Force, Good Universe, and Lionsgate Films joined forces on production with distribution handled by Lionsgate Films. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes got a premiere in Berlin, Germany on November 5, 2023, and hit US theaters on November 17, 2023.

Who’s here we might know? For me, there’s only one. Peter Dinklage, in a small role, no pun intended, and an American accent. Sorry, but not sorry for being in my 40s and not knowing any of these people. Tom Blyth is the “star of the show.” Casting wise, I suppose he could pass for a very young Donald Sutherland, the actor playing Coriolanus Snow in the first four films. However, in the latter part of the film, with all his hair cut off and wearing a white shirt and blue pants, he looks more like Eminem. I saw it, but Rachel said something first. I wonder if anyone else picked up on that, or was it just too late to bother with at the time?

The film follows the novel pretty close. It isn’t a mirror image, but they do resemble each other with minimal changes. I think. I’m trying my best to remember, but the latter half of the novel got hazy. A bit too long for me. Same for the film, with the 157 runtime. That’s roughly two hours and 37 minutes. Christ, that’s a long time to sit through something. As they say, “you gotta finish the story.” In this case, finish the saga. We have. Like most things, I didn’t mind the book or films of the original collection. The extra piece tacked on the end years later, not so much.