The ballad of undeveloped characters and an unstructured plot: A review of the Hunger Games prequel

From 2012 to 2015, culture was dominated by the first four Hunger Games films. They were huge box office hits, collectively grossing nearly $3 billion worldwide. It’s no surprise that years later, culture is once again consumed by the world of Panem as the new prequel film hits theaters.

“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” takes place 64 years before the infamous Katniss Everdeen volunteered herself as tribute. The story focuses on a young president Snow trying to get ahead in the Capitol, and his opportunity to do so is presented when he is assigned to mentor the District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray, in the 10th annual Hunger Games.

I’ve heard both good and bad things about the differences between the Susan Collins novel; however, I went into this viewing blind and with only the knowledge of the first four movies.

Spoilers ahead.

This new prequel brought with it fantastical costume design and set designs rivaling that of the original films and the sheer spectacle of this dystopian future. The world-building made this feel like what I expected of a “past” Panem. 

Also, getting to see life in the Capitol was something that sparked the curiosity of the Hunger Games fan within me. Unfortunately, the characters begin speaking, and the plot attempts to create structure, leading to a lackluster viewing experience outside of these stunning visual elements.

Starting with the main character of this film himself, the undeveloped and inconsistent Coriolanus Snow. I’m all for an unreliable narrator or someone with multiple facets to themselves. If anything, this can make for a very interesting narrative. However, Coriolanus Snow is someone fans of the series have a specific image of in their minds. 

It’s hard to see someone extremely narcissistic and self-serving to the point of evil in their intent, suddenly made sympathetic. Not to mention that his kinder and humanizing actions often directly contradict the elements in the movie that set him up to be the villain we know him as in the original films. 

It also didn’t help that there were these constant long takes of the camera just focusing on Snow “experiencing emotion.” It was always way too long and always ended up confusing me more because his sad, angry, and contemplative faces were all pretty much the same.

The other main character of the prequel is Lucy Gray, who seems to only exist in this film to further Snow’s storyline. As a result, she has no character development and unclear motivations. Her character works best in moments when she’s just trying to survive. 

All of her actions towards Snow can be seen as attempts to just try and make it out alive. It’s when the games are over that her character really falls apart. It’s unclear why she continues to spend time with him, especially when the dialogue between the two characters was cringy and furthered my curiosity as to why these characters were together in the first place.

There seemed to be a battle in this film with the writing of Snow’s character in figuring out a way to honor the person he is in the future, while also trying to make him someone audiences can root for. The biggest problem with this was the fact that I didn’t want to root for this character. Then, they made this narrative worse by pairing him with a character with so little development that by the end of this film, I wasn’t rooting for her either.

The next biggest issue with this film is the structure itself. “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” follows the new formula for sure-fire box office hits for some reason being two-and-a-half hours. 

I have no problem with a longer film if that length is warranted by the story it’s telling. Yet, there was nothing in this Hunger Games prequel story that warranted that length. The story is broken into three parts; however, going in I was unaware of this, so as soon as Lucy Gray wins the tenth annual Hunger Games, I’ll be honest I thought there were maybe fifteen minutes left in the film. I was wrong.

When the games ended, it felt like the ending was both rushed and way too drawn out. They have these long scenes where nothing happens; yet in this drawn-out time, no character development occurs until all at once, where Snow is suddenly evil. 

This drawn-out nature was to the point that by the end they had to add extra lines of exposition to the on-the-nose state theme for everyone, which was necessary as it got lost within the third act. This is unfortunate because one of the themes of this film, which follows the idea of how far people are willing to let things go to be entertained, is fascinating and something I felt could’ve been really powerful if explored properly.

That being said, even with the dull impact this film had on me, it did make me immediately want to go back and rewatch the original films.

Review Rewind: The Hunger Games Catching Fire

It’s not only the best in the series, but I feel it might be one of the best dystopian films period. Production values for this film were unmatched. The costuming, set pieces, and world-building took everything that was revolutionary and exciting about the first film and expanded on it. 

The story itself also rivals the first film, as it adds new twists and allows the characters to develop even further as they’re once again thrown into the games. It’s one of the best sequels I’ve seen and a must-watch for dystopian fans.