Film Review #007 - The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

I had a great opportunity to watch The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) before its official release on 17/11/2023. Here is my bigger picture review on it:

Pacing: I find the film to be too fast-paced. Ironically, the film is set in a rush while the book is written at a slower pace. While the film lasts 2 hours and 37 minutes, extending it to 3 hours, similarly with Oppenheimer (2023) movie, could have allowed for a more thorough exploration. Nonetheless, the adaptation works well.

Adaptation Details: I read the book in February and noticed that the film focuses on the most important parts of Coriolanus Snow's thoughts and other of course important details, but it leaves out some smaller details. The director did a good job handling these important parts, making a well-rounded portrayal even though certain elements were left out.

Directing and Cinematography: The direction of Francis Lawrence has improved significantly, and the camerawork is outstanding with its camera shots. The visual elements of the film - its colors and camerawork - create an extremely genuine and thrilling mood and atmosphere for the movie.

Intense Scenes and Storytelling: The film is filled with tense moments, which increase the audience's engagement. With themes of trust at its core, the narrative is engrossing and skillfully executed. Well done.

Acting: The cast performances were impressive. Despite some online criticism, Raechel Zegler's portrayal worked well for me, especially her “anti-Katniss” character contrasting with Coriolanus Snow's similarity to Katniss. Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow did a gread job portraying his character. Josh Andrés Rivera's performance reminded me of Matt Damon and he did well; I also liked Lucky Flickerman’s performance with his witty character that brought a blend of Effie Trinket and Cesar Flickerman's essence from the original Hunger Games films.

Music and Soundtrack: The film featured lively and entertaining Covey music with bittersweet lyrics. Moreover, The James Newton Howard-composed score, which paralleled the style of Ludwig Goransson's score for the 2023 film Oppenheimer for me, was outstanding and consistent with Howard's work on the four prior Hunger Games films.

Accuracy and Production: This film, in my opinion, out of all five in the Hunger Games series, most accurately captures the essence of the franchise as depicted by Francis Lawrence, like maybe about 90% accuracy. Hence, Suzanne Collins’ as executive producer’s role in this movie was evident.

Overall: I was considerably impressed by The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. I am optimistic about it. The film effectively depicts the essence of the franchise and fills the Hunger Games dystopian world, its characters, and its breathtaking music with new perspectives and topics that could be brought up to the discussion.

Rating: 9/10