This was the movie I had been waiting to see for the past three years, “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” After I had read the book in 2020 I heard it would also be made into a movie, just as the previous three had been. I was excited to see one of my favorite books come to life on the big screen and I was not disappointed.
As a reader, I was curious to see what scenes from the book would be replicated in the movie and how some might be altered. With that being said, the scenes in the movie were well-chosen and kept the full impact of the story without including every detail that was highlighted in the book. The movie’s two-hour and thirty-eight-minute running time deterred the need for those extra scenes.
The book was written in first person, highlighting Cornelius Snow’s internal monologue, and knowing this going into the theater worried me because it can become difficult to show a character’s true thoughts with the inability to create an internal monologue in a movie. Actor Tom Bylth who plays a young President Snow in the movie did an excellent job at conveying Snow’s inner thoughts and as a watcher, I was truly captivated by the degree that Blyth was able to develop a young Cornelius Snow throughout the movie.
The movie opens with a very young Cornelius Snow, and his cousin Tigris attempting to stay alive in a war-torn Panem to allow the watcher to understand the devastation that was once brought on the country, highlighting the origins of the Hunger Games. Throughout the first part of the movie, the major problem is that the games are beginning to lose traction in the capital, so the academy students are tasked with figuring out how to make the games more popular. Then, the story begins, Snow is tasked with mentoring Lucy Gray Bair

d the odd singing girl from District 12 who puts on a show for the capital when her name is drawn.
I think that Lucy Gray being played by Rachel Zegler was a fantastic choice and she was exactly who I had envisioned as Lucy Gray after reading the book. I loved her singing along with the way that she played her character and the emotion that she showed throughout the film.
One thing that might have been a problem for some watchers is that there were quite a few references to other movies and books and a lot of crossovers between Lucy Gray and Katniss Everdeen. So, if a watcher had not seen the previous movies or read the books some details might be lost and the movie could have been more confusing and less enjoyable. But, I do think that the plot was relatively easy to follow as long as the watcher had some background knowledge on what ‘The Hunger Games’ series is about.
I did notice that this movie was much more violent and gruesome than the others in the series, however, I don’t think it was violent and gruesome for no reason. The violence shows how torn the districts are from the capitol and proves a point that is shown in the other movies and books. In “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” both the book and the movie provide more context as a precursor to the first three books. As a watcher, this movie shows how Snow gained his need to hold power in the capitol.
Overall, the movie was fantastic and the casting ultimately made the movie as good as it is. I would recommend this movie to all ‘Hunger Games fans and rate it a nine out of ten.