It’s been nearly ten years since The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 hit theaters, and at long last, Suzanne Collins’s massively popular YA dystopian book series is returning to the big screen. Based on the prequel of the same name, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes unpacks the history of big bad President Snow—winding the clock back to the tenth annual Hunger Games and digging into the root of the twisted villain’s murky history. Though admirably faithful to the novel and ambitious in its scope, Songbirds and Snakes struggles to navigate the source material’s complex characters and messaging, resulting in a jumbled (but admittedly entertaining) new franchise entry.
Starring Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler, Songbirds and Snakes follows 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Blyth), whose aristocratic family has fallen on hard times in the wake of a devastating war. Promised a hefty cash prize if he can turn his tribute into a spectacle that will draw more attention to the games, Snow resolves to make the spirited Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler) into a star—a plan that begins to falter when the two develop a deep romantic connection.
Undoubtedly, it’s a gutsy and fascinating move to center a prequel around a villain who’s utterly irredeemable by series end (mass child murder being among his many eventual crimes), but Songbirds and Snakes struggles to fully commit to exploring Snow as a twisted antihero. Instead, the film clings to the Romeo and Juliet-style romance, an angle that’s at times affecting but mostly only serves as a distraction from the fascinating road-to-ruin story that the premise invokes.
But while the film’s approach to handling Snow’s descent into villainy is flimsy, Zegler’s turn as Lucy Gray is an electric one that injects a much-needed dose of passion and energy. From the folksy twang in her singing (the film makes abundant use of her vocal talents) to the deceptively cheerful facade she puts on for crowds, Lucy is a fascinating, vibrant character—and an undeniable star turn for Zegler. In the end, a standout leading lady isn’t quite enough to rescue Songbirds and Snakes from the sluggish runtime, bizarre pacing, and muddled thematic elements, but Zegler’s fire (combined with some memorable costuming and action set pieces) lends this film some spark. PG-13, 157 min.
