Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes

The prequel to the hunger games trilogy was, in my opinion, a bust. Going into this movie I was unaware that it was supposed to be filmed with aspects of a play. Lots of new, young actors with little to no experience. Very rigid performance from most of the characters, making it a difficult watch. The plot was less than fleshed out and seemed never-ending.  

Tom Blythe (Coriolanus Snow) did well with his role while his co-star, Rachel Zegler (Lucy Gray), had a bit of a rough go. Her singing voice is phenomenal, but her acting, well… she would probably do better on stage than in a movie.  

There was so much singing throughout the movie, I had to question whether it was a musical. The scene in which the actual games began, the fighting was too obviously choreographed. It almost looked like they were supposed to be dancing. I just couldn’t take it seriously. Along with the bad acting, there was also no character depth, no backstory for anyone except Lucy Gray and it was still a weak one. We only really got to know Snow. 

Now, I know for some this movie was very entertaining and exactly what they had hoped for, but I have a feeling that’s only because they didn’t go into the theatre with the same sort of expectations that I did. The filming style of this movie was very different from the other four movies, even though the director was the same for Catching Fire and both parts of Mocking Jay. 

I was disappointed with this movie because of my love for the other films and was hoping for it to do them justice. But don’t let my opinion wave you from going and seeing it for yourself.