It sounds like The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a worthy tribute to the young adult dystopian saga. According to critics who have screened the prequel to the original film series that starred Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, Songbirds and Snakes is a welcome return to the arena, where a young Coriolanus “Coryo” Snow (Tom Blyth) mentors District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). The first reviews arrived online Thursday, and critics seem to agree that Blyth and Zegler are compelling leads — even if the fifth Hunger Games movie doesn’t quite catch fire like the Katniss Everdeen era.
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“Zegler captures Lucy Gray’s effortless charisma from the book whilealso perfectly portraying the deep fear and anger that comes with being atribute in the Hunger Games,” says Jamie Jirak in ComicBook‘s review. “Blyth also deserves praise for taking on the role of Snow, which is noeasy feat when you’re following in the footsteps of a legend like DonaldSutherland.” Standouts include Viola Davis as the demented Dr. Volumnia Gaul, head gamemaker of the 10th Hunger Games, and Peter Dinklage as the Academy Dean Casca “Cas” Highbottom.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the Hunger Games prequel currently sits at 63% “fresh” on the Tomatometer. That’s a franchise-low, trailing 2012’s The Hunger Games (84%), 2023’s Catching Fire (90%), 2014’s Mockingjay, Part 1 (70%) and 2015’s Mockingjay, Part 2 (also 70%).
IndieWire: “Significantly more intimate and grounded than the previous HungerGames movies (despite being longer than any of them and responsible forseeding all of their lore), The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes isthe rare prequel that manages to stand on its own two feet and still feel taller than the other stories it’s ultimately meant to support … the biggest reason why this movie sings is because Rachel Zegleris in it as Lucy Gray Baird. A star playing a star, the West SideStory ingénue delivers a mega-wattage encore as the female tributeselected from District 1.”
Variety: “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes feels like a natural extension of the saga, balancing blood sport,endangered young love and a heightened level of political commentarythat respects the intelligence of young audiences as only [Hunger Games author Suzanne] Collins can … As Lucy Gray Baird, West Side Story star Rachel Zeglerrepresents a cross between Jennifer Lawrence’s selfless hero, KatnissEverdeen, from the original films; the beguiling Gypsy Esmeralda ofVictor Hugo’s imagination; and a pop icon like Taylor Swift, who bringspeople together. Her songs are the highlight of a movie that’s half anhour too long and frustratingly unclear in the final stretch. Thenagain, Hollywood has long since decided that audiences like theirblockbusters bloated, and Ballad is but the latest to overdeliver.”
The Hollywood Reporter: “Beyond the fact that Collins penned a 2020 follow-up set 64 yearsbefore the events of the original book trilogy, and of course the marketreality that Hollywood never met a dystopian cash cow it couldn’t milkto death, there are few compelling reasons for the new installment toexist … If only there were something truly new and innovative about this chapter to fully justify resurrecting the Hunger Games franchise eight years after Mockingjay — Part 2.”
The Associated Press: “Francis Lawrence’s prequel often wobbles, especially in the earlygoing. And yet, in the end, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,propelled by Blyth’s performance, manages to be the deepest expressionyet of the series’ melodrama of adolescence. In Panem, the only thingmore tragic than the suffering inflicted by adults on the young may be abright kid warping wickedly into one of those elders, too.”
The Guardian: “It’s easy to lose the will to live halfway through the title, never mindthe actual film – in all its exhausting, convoluted silliness. This is apointless new iteration of IP content from the Hunger Games franchise… the interest, dramatic momentum and energy have frankly expired, and allwe have are the ridiculous outfits, the hallucinatory hairstyles, thezero-suspense action sequences, the standard-issue CGI cityscapes, thenon-satirical flourishes about media control and Rachel Zegler (in whatis effectively the Katniss role) doing a frankly bizarre suth’n accentin an eccentrically designed country-music-star dress, in herpicturesque itinerant poverty, singing her down-home ballads whilestrumming a guitar which looks as expensive as a Lamborghini.”
Mashable: “Zegler is outstanding as Lucy Gray, taking the role of District 12tribute and makingit her own. Plus, there’s no beating her gorgeous voice, which bringsDistrict 12 songs like ‘The Hanging Tree’ to vibrant, folksy life … The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is captivating through and through, capturing the magic that made The Hunger Games such a sensation while delivering a darker, more nuanced look at the corruption at the heart of Panem.”
USA Today: “Imagine if The Phantom Menace was better than every episode of George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy. Kind of bonkers to think about, right? But that’s pretty much the situation with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, an enticing blend of dystopian action epic and musical drama that surpasses the previous films starring Jennifer Lawrence.”
The official synopsis: “Yearsbefore he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-years-oldCoriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proudfamily that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. Withthe 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow isalarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girls tributefrom impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all ofPanem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony. Snowthinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting theirinstincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’srace against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird,and who is a snake.”
Starring Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, Jason Schwartzman, and Viola Davis, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes opens in theaters November 17.
