Does The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Sing?
Critics can’t seem to reach a consensus on The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Hollywood’s latest IP money grab is an adaptation of the Suzanne Collins Hunger Games prequel of the same name that follows the rise of cold-blooded villain Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and his opportunistic romance with Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a contestant in the 10th annual Hunger Games and his mentee. The problem is some critics view the 158-minute spectacle as an overwrought snoozefest, while others argue that Ballad is the most satisfying entry in the entire franchise. IndieWire says “the mere attempt at tracing President Snow’s sociopathy back to its roots is enough to make this intimate epic the best installment — by far.” In contrast, The Guardian completely dragged the film, writing “the interest, dramatic momentum and energy have frankly expired, and all we have are the ridiculous outfits, the hallucinatory hairstyles, the zero-suspense action sequences, the standard-issue CGI cityscapes, the non-satirical flourishes about media control and Rachel Zegler.” Well. Below, what critics are saying about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
“Its real problem is that common Hollywood affliction: prequelitis, or the desire to monetize a given IP to the hilt results in long-winded backstory expansions neither necessary nor as interesting as the preceding adventures. Incapable of providing an illuminating insight into Coriolanus or the Hunger Games, Lawrence’s latest merely fills in trivial blanks—or, to put it in the film’s preferred terms, sings a banal ditty lacking any venomous bite.” —Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
“Francis Lawrence’s prequel often wobbles, especially in the early going. And yet, in the end, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, propelled by Blyth’s performance, manages to be the deepest expression yet of the series’ melodrama of adolescence. In Panem, the only thing more tragic than the suffering inflicted by adults on the young may be a bright kid warping wickedly into one of those elders, too.” —Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
“A compelling watch that improves on what came before it, Ballad rocks a moodier Harry Potter vibe and isn’t shy regarding its message about authoritarianism and the inherently corruptive aspects of the human spirit. It posits that the line between good and evil is a fine one, and similar to a man named Darth, Snow takes a deep and entertaining stroll toward the dark side.” —Brian Truitt, USA Today
“For this prequel, however – taken from Collins’s 2020 novel of the same title – the interest, dramatic momentum and energy have frankly expired, and all we have are the ridiculous outfits, the hallucinatory hairstyles, the zero-suspense action sequences, the standard-issue CGI cityscapes, the non-satirical flourishes about media control and Rachel Zegler (in what is effectively the Katniss role) doing a frankly bizarre suth’n accent in an eccentrically designed country-music-star dress, in her picturesque itinerant poverty, singing her down-home ballads while strumming a guitar which looks as expensive as a Lamborghini.” —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“In telling a Revenge of the Sith-like origin story about future dictator Coriolanus Snow’s corruption from scrappy orphan to autocratic tyrant, the film has no choice but to try and unpack how people might come to believe in the moral imperative of their own power, even if only to live with something they’ve already done. That process can be rendered a bit squidgy by a hyper-faithful script that would rather take Collins at her word than question any of the soft points in her source material, but the mere attempt at tracing President Snow’s sociopathy back to its roots is enough to make this intimate epic the best installment — by far — of a franchise that I’d left for dead a long time ago.” —David Ehrlich, IndieWire
“Hollywood has long since decided that audiences like their blockbusters bloated, and Ballad is but the latest to overdeliver.” —Peter Debruge, Variety
“Francis Lawrence, who has directed all but the 2012 feature that kicked off the series, handles the arena action with the required energy, putting DP Jo Willems’ cameras through their paces with lots of frenetic movement. But the games prove less suspenseful and visually interesting in their confined bunker-like setting than under the sprawling biodome of the chapters that come later in the chronology. More than that, the contestants just lack dimension.” —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
“We’re provided only brief relief whenever one of the film’s established stars struts on the scene: Viola Davis, as head gamemaker Dr Volumnia Gaul, is deliciously camp, in platform Dr Martens and red rubber gloves. Peter Dinklage, as games inventor Casca Highbottom, revels in ennui. Jason Schwartzman, as “weatherman and amateur magician” Lucretius Flickerman, lands some surprisingly good one-liners. Their performances hint at the true narcissism of Panem – something you’ll struggle to find in any of the limp, neutered romantics of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.” —Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent
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