The Hunger Games - The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023): A Lesson About Humanity

Hello there! It's my first post in this community and first movie review on Hive!

A little background, I used to watch movies as a past time in the past but everything changed when Covid struck and at the same time, many streaming platforms such as Netflix and Disney+ were made available, and it was just more convenient to chill at home and watch shows on the sofa.

So it was a coincidence that my friend had a discounted ticket for The Hunger Games - The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes during the weekend and invited me along. And it was the first time in probably 4 or 5 years that I stepped into a movie theatre!! It was exciting but I was also a little anxious at the same time because when I checked the run time, it was 158 minutes, which I thought was above the average length of a movie.

Before I start the review, while I am proud to mention that I have watched all the movies in the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series, somehow I just didn't catch any of The Hunger Games movies previously. The only thing I knew about The Hunger Games was that it made Jennifer Lawrence famous? Haha. So I came into this movie with a fully open mind, without any background about what The Hunger Games was about.

So if you are like me, who either hasn't heard of The Hunger Games, or has not watched the previous movies in this series, and want to know if you should watch it or give it a miss, read on and find out what I think!

No spoilers I promise!

I won't go into the specific plots of the movie, but briefly, this shows tell the story of a young man, Coriolanus Snow, on his trials and tribulations of his involvement in the 10th Hunger Games, which was literally a life and death arena for the participants.

One of the things I liked about the movie was that it was able to keep me on my toes. When I saw it was 158 minutes long, I was initially worried if the plot was going to be draggy, or perhaps even boring. However, time seemed to fly by quickly which was a good indicator that the pace of the storytelling was good!

Another thing I liked about the movie was that the character development of the characters were very well thought out. Kudos to the writer of the book I guess, but the cast were awesome in their appearances, and I was immediately drawn into the movie. There were no tear jerking scenes, at least for me, but it was definitely still a emotional rollercoaster, as I watched the twists and turns in the story.

The final thing that I liked very much about the movie, and perhaps my biggest takeaway from the show, was that I felt this movie drew parallels between The Hunger Games fiction and the reality where we all are living in. The movie showcases how people can turn from good to evil to achieve their ambitions and are willing to do anything at all costs, how people with power use intimidation to preserve social order, and how people of different class in society view one another, sometimes with jealousy, sometimes with hatred. In a world where each man is for himself, betrayals of friendships are not uncommon and it's really hard for people to trust each other. Maybe it is the intended message underpinning this storyline, or maybe it's not, but personally, I found this very enlightening. (Those of you who have watched it will probably know what I mean.)

At the risk of sounding like a full promotion of the movie, if I had to mention something "not so good" about the show, it would have to be the complexity of the plot. This movie might not be suitable for those who just want to laze in the seat and watch movies that bring them laughter. This movie is more serious than that so it might a tad heavy to watch after a long day at work. ;)

Finally, despite not being a Hunger Games fan, I came in to watch with an open mind, hoping to be entertained by action, but I left with the theatre with thoughts about humanity and that was way more than I expected. For that, this deserves a 4.5 star rating out of 5 from me.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

P.S. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think about my first movie review, or if you have any thoughts about the movie too!