I didn't give myself over to Songbirds & Snakes immediately. The movie certainly had my attention and I think the opening was very strong in establishing Coriolanus as a complicated protagonist and setting him down his path to both his triumph and later his destruction. It took me a while to warm up to Lucy Gray, she was too feisty and too finely geared to make her likeable. But her willingness to trust Snow instead of just being whiny and mistrustful and her not too squeaky clean sense of morality wore me down. Her character picks up steam after the games are done and by the end, I was rooting for her. My biggest problem with the original series was how selfish and petulant Katniss could be and Songbirds & Snakes flips the formula by asking us to root for the villain. One of my friends suggested a House of Cards style show just showing Snow's rise to power and S&S showed the potential and promise that kind of project.
I hadn't seen either Tom Blyth previously but to follow Donald Sutherland in this role couldn't have been easy. I was quite impressed with his commanding presence and how well he captured Snow's charm and conversely his ruthlessness. He definitely brought some humanity to the character and he conveys slow descent well. Rachel has a ton of energy as Lucy Gray and she's good at being vulnerable in the beginning and being coy & mysterious near the end. Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage and Jason Schwartzman are the heavy hitters in the supporting cast and I enjoyed them all. Viola comes on strong at the start (could the obviously evil character turn out to be evil?) but her performance fits and Dr. Gaul transforms into a formidable enemy by the end.
I also want to congratulate this movie for putting more of a focus on the animosity between the Capitol and the Districts. There's a lot more anger and venom between the two sides and the bitterness adds to the stakes. They also do a good job of showing how disorganized the games could be in their beginning cycles. This version of the Hunger Games is much less glamorous, the tributes are barely suitable, the mentors are only in it for themselves and the citizens of the Capitol barely care. It adds to the bleakness of the festivities and how they would eventual fuel another rebellion which is important in where the story will eventually finish with the Katniss saga.
I did have some problems with this movie, but they were mostly minor. Songbirds & Snakes relies on some plot contrivances and the film can't help but being a little precious when it's winking at elements from the original trilogy. This is something that isn't unique to Songbirds & Snakes but wouldn't it be nice if it could have been avoided? But the easiest and most obvious problem is that S&S feels a little overproduced. It's been pruned and tweaked for maximum power several times over and it robs it of some of it's spontaneity. I still really enjoyed it but I couldn't help but feel like I was being manipulated a little bit.
I really didn't expect much going into this movie. I saw the original trilogy and read the books but I considered The Hunger Games finished and I moved on. I was blown away by how intricately packed and well made this prequel was. Judging by the other user reviews, I might in the minority but Songbirds & Snakes builds on the mythology while staying true to the spirit, the film shapes Coriolanus Snow into a layered and engaging character/villain and reignites the fire for this universe. I'm somewhere between an 8.5-9/10 but I'd wholly recommend this and unless you're extremely attached to the original trilogy, I'd be surprised if you walk away from the theatre without something to discuss or a new appreciation for this franchise. To Suzanne Collins, Francis Lawrence and the creative team, Bravo!
I hadn't seen either Tom Blyth previously but to follow Donald Sutherland in this role couldn't have been easy. I was quite impressed with his commanding presence and how well he captured Snow's charm and conversely his ruthlessness. He definitely brought some humanity to the character and he conveys slow descent well. Rachel has a ton of energy as Lucy Gray and she's good at being vulnerable in the beginning and being coy & mysterious near the end. Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage and Jason Schwartzman are the heavy hitters in the supporting cast and I enjoyed them all. Viola comes on strong at the start (could the obviously evil character turn out to be evil?) but her performance fits and Dr. Gaul transforms into a formidable enemy by the end.
I also want to congratulate this movie for putting more of a focus on the animosity between the Capitol and the Districts. There's a lot more anger and venom between the two sides and the bitterness adds to the stakes. They also do a good job of showing how disorganized the games could be in their beginning cycles. This version of the Hunger Games is much less glamorous, the tributes are barely suitable, the mentors are only in it for themselves and the citizens of the Capitol barely care. It adds to the bleakness of the festivities and how they would eventual fuel another rebellion which is important in where the story will eventually finish with the Katniss saga.
I did have some problems with this movie, but they were mostly minor. Songbirds & Snakes relies on some plot contrivances and the film can't help but being a little precious when it's winking at elements from the original trilogy. This is something that isn't unique to Songbirds & Snakes but wouldn't it be nice if it could have been avoided? But the easiest and most obvious problem is that S&S feels a little overproduced. It's been pruned and tweaked for maximum power several times over and it robs it of some of it's spontaneity. I still really enjoyed it but I couldn't help but feel like I was being manipulated a little bit.
I really didn't expect much going into this movie. I saw the original trilogy and read the books but I considered The Hunger Games finished and I moved on. I was blown away by how intricately packed and well made this prequel was. Judging by the other user reviews, I might in the minority but Songbirds & Snakes builds on the mythology while staying true to the spirit, the film shapes Coriolanus Snow into a layered and engaging character/villain and reignites the fire for this universe. I'm somewhere between an 8.5-9/10 but I'd wholly recommend this and unless you're extremely attached to the original trilogy, I'd be surprised if you walk away from the theatre without something to discuss or a new appreciation for this franchise. To Suzanne Collins, Francis Lawrence and the creative team, Bravo!