The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Loses Female Protagonist (and Its Appeal)

By Liz Braun

Rating: C+

Ever wonder how the President of Panem got so evil?

No, me neither. But you’ll find out anyway at The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the fifth instalment of the franchise.

This one is a villain’s origin story about the development of Coriolanus Snow, future president of Panem.

The Hunger Games movies, based on the bestselling trilogy by Suzanne Collins, are a massive box office hit. That’s in large part because they offered a strong female protagonist, wonderfully brought to life by Jennifer Lawrence.

Why thi$ male-centred prequel — with the mo$t important attraction of the franchi$e $tripped out — $eemed like a good idea to anybody remain$ a my$tery.

It too is based on a Collins novel of 2020.

The film is set some 60 years before the events involving Katniss (and before Coriolanus is played with an evil flourish by the inimitable Donald Sutherland.)

These are early days, only the 10th annual life-or-death games that allow the powers-that-be in the Capitol to punish past rebellion. As usual, each of the 12 districts in the country must choose one adolescent boy and girl to fight for survival in a bloody spectacle organized for the amusement of the general public.

But this year, things have changed. The games are losing popularity.

Young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), an excellent student, discovers that the Plinth Prize, an important academic prize he hopes to win, will now involve mentoring one of the games’ participants. Oh, bother.

The prize is important to Coriolanus because he is the sole support of his sister (Hunter Schafer) and his grandmother (Fionnula Flanagan) and the family is poor.

Once the Tributes are chosen, Coriolanus is matched with Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) from District 12. Lucy is feisty and sweet, and she sings. She’s a member of the Covey, a group of musicians in her district.

Coriolanus’ task is to mentor her and promote her so that the public is once again engaged in what happens during the games themselves.

He’d also like to see her win.

A romance between Coriolanus and Lucy begins to develop. Coriolanus, meanwhile, must kowtow to Dr. Gaul (Viola Davis) who is the boss of the games and Dean Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), grand fromage of the university. Both lean on Coriolanus and seem to vaguely distrust him.

Among Coriolanus’ snotty classmates there is one friend: Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andres Rivera) who appears to be the moral compass of the story.

Sejanus is against the games and horrified by the violence he sees.

Nonetheless, on to the games: bloodshed aplenty, death, destruction, etc. Someone gets rabies.

Coriolanus kills a person in self-defence. Thin edge of the wedge, people. It’s all downhill thereafter.

When the dust settles, Coriolanus is sent to the districts as a peacekeeper and his move to the dark side picks up speed.

Lucy sings. People talk about the thin veneer of civilization. Betrayal abounds. If you squint, it’s probably all An Important Metaphor For Contemporary Politics.

Director Francis Lawrence, who also directed three of the other four Hunger Games movies, does what he can with a plot-heavy screenplay from Michael Lesslie, Michael Arndt, and Suzanne Collins.

Despite some interesting action scenes, the movie is far too long at two hours and 40 minutes. Worse yet, you’re always aware that you’re watching a movie.

Even the title is too long. This review is too long.

The end.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Directed by Francis Lawrence, written by Michael Lesslie, Michael Arndt and Suzanne Collins. Starring Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, and Viola Davis. In theatres November 17.