The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Doesn’t Quite “Land on Top”

Coriolanus Snow (played by English actor Tom Blyth) and his fictional love interest, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), have been all anyone seems to be talking about on media platforms as of late. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes came out mid-November of this year and has since grossed almost $300 million in box office sales.

The film received a mere 64% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, which was surprisingly low compared to the performance of the other Hunger Games installments. With its retro-futuristic settings and eye-catching costumes (particularly Baird’s rainbow dress, though it pales in comparison to the Alexander McQueen butterfly dress worn by Effie Trinket in the original Hunger Games movie), the general consensus surrounding the movie’s visuals was positive. However, most reviewers seem to feel that there were too many events stuffed into the one movie, making the plot feel rushed and choppy. While I do think this critique has a lot of merit, my main issue with the film had to do with the portrayal of protagonist Coriolanus Snow.

While the movie doesn’t portray Snow as a hero, we don’t exactly get to see how sinister his inner monologue is. In the movie, he repeatedly declares that “Snow lands on top”, a phrase which might carry a tinge of narcissism but generally tends to be harmless. In contrast, Snow (internally) voices in the novel written by Suzanne Collins that, “It was a given that Lucy Gray belonged to him, as if she’d had no life before her name was called out at the Reaping,” and that Lucy Gray “was no great beauty, but she had a sweetness, a vulnerability that invited abuse.” In the movie, we see a troubled boy that falls in love with a girl he never would have expected to fall for; his near insanity at the end pinned primarily on his traumatic childhood. In the book, we see a corrupt boy who viewed the people from the districts as objects to be owned and controlled. In the book, we see Coriolanus Snow as the villain he truly is.

I find it important to note that the movie’s failure to accurately portray Snow’s character is not a product of bad acting. Tom Blyth, formerly a relative unknown in the US, did an excellent job with the script he was given, using only his emotive facial expressions to show watchers some of the deranged inner workings of Coriolanus Snow’s mind. However, if the screenwriters had allowed Snow’s inner monologue to shine through, it would have added an interesting layer to the film…one that might have saved the integrity of the movie’s plot.

Though some Hunger Games fans had reservations about Rachel Zegler’s casting in this movie after the whole fiasco with Disney’s remake of Snow White, Rachel did well here. She brought charisma and dignity to the role, making Snow’s betrayal of Lucy Gray that much more appalling. I wouldn’t say Blyth and Zegler’s performance together was nearly as electric as that of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, but it was still strong.

On the surface, this movie is well done—the costumes and graphics are striking, the soundtrack is catchy; there’s suspense, romance, and drama. The image of Lucy Gray, the songbird, taming the snakes (which symbolize Coriolanus Snow, who is frequently described as snakelike by Katniss Everdeen years later) is a good one. However, the movie is missing what’s so important about this tragic story: Snow is evil, down to his very core. This prequel is fun and entertaining, but The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes definitely doesn’t “land on top” among anyone who’s well-versed in the world of the Hunger Games.

Thanks for visiting!

♡ Clotilde