The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

My Review

“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” is an outstanding prequel to “The Hunger Games” of 2012, and its sequels of 2013, 2014, and 2015. Director Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend” 2007) has created the right amount of drama in the story of Coriolanus Snow and the beginnings of his rise to power, 64 years before the events of the first movie.

Tom Blyth as Snow, Rachel Zelger as Lucy Gray, Viola Davis as Dr. Gaul, and Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, the inventor of the Hunger Games, make up an appealing group of lead actor in this motion picture. Great acting by all; and we couldn’t help but notice the growth of Dinklage’s goatee since the end of “The Game of Thrones” in 2019. Co-stars include Josh Andres Rivera, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Fionnula Flanagan, Burn Gorman, Ashley Liao, and Zoe Renee.

The excellent screenplay was written by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, adapted from 2020 novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” was modestly successful at the box office for Lionsgate Films.