THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES

A prequel to the existing franchise finds Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) mentoring District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) during the 10th annual Hunger Games. For The Capital, viewership of the games is down and the possibility of discontinuing the games has been put out. In an effort to salvage the games, young Coriolanus is tasked with assisting Lucy Gray in order to attract viewers back to the games, thus ensuring his place to receive a scholarship at the university he can simply not afford due to lack of finances. The film does a wonderful job of balancing both the games and the after effects of both characters. While the runtime of 2 hours and 37 minutes might scare some folks off, the film feels like 2 parts into 1. My only gripe with the film is the constant singing of Lucy Gray. Although, having never read the source material, I'm more inclined to after watching the film. This surpassed my expectations and if this opens up additional installments for the franchise, consider me onboard! 8/10