Alright, listen up, y’all. I went and saw that new Songbirds and Snakes movie, the one they say is about that fella from them Hunger Games flicks. Don’t rightly know why they make these things so long, but I sat through it, so I reckon I can tell ya a thing or two.
First off, this movie, it’s about this young fella, Coriolanus Snow. Before he was all mean and president-like, he was just a boy tryin’ to make his way. They got this fancy school and these kids gotta be mentors for them kids fightin’ in the games. Sounded kinda crazy to me, makin’ kids fight, but that’s how they do things in that there Capitol city, I guess.
Now, this Coriolanus, he gets stuck with this girl from District 12, Lucy Gray Baird. She’s a singer, real pretty and kinda wild. The movie spends a whole lot of time on them two. They talk, they sing, they scheme… I tell ya, it dragged on a bit. Felt like they coulda cut out some of that jabberin’.
- First part? Kinda slow, like molasses in January.
- Second part? Gets a little better, shows more of them games and how cruel folks can be.
- Third part? That’s when things get real interestin’, but it takes a good while to get there.
The games themselves, they weren’t the main thing, ya know? It was more about this Snow fella and how he turns bad. Seems like he had it rough, growin’ up durin’ some kinda war. Folks kept tellin’ him he was special and deserved all the fancy things, but they was poor as church mice. That’ll mess with a fella’s head, I reckon. He was ashamed of not havin’ money, and that made him do some bad things.
Lucy Gray, she was alright. Like I said, she could sing real pretty. But I didn’t really get to know her all that well. They coulda given her more to do, more to say. Felt like she was just there to push Snow’s story along. Some other folks in the movie, they were the same way. Just kinda there, not much to ‘em.
Now, the look of the movie, that was somethin’ else. All them fancy clothes and buildings, real sparkly and shiny. But sometimes, it was too much. Like they was tryin’ to distract ya from the story bein’ kinda slow. And that story, well, it jumps around a bit. One minute they’re in the arena, the next they’re back at the school, then they’re off somewhere else. Hard to keep up sometimes.
They say this movie is based on a book. Guess maybe the book explains things better. But as a movie, it was just okay. Not the worst thing I ever seen, but not the best neither. Took too long to get goin’, and I didn’t care much for most of them characters. Snow, he was kinda interestin’, seein’ how he turned out all mean. But the rest? Meh.
If you like them Hunger Games movies, you might like this one. Just don’t expect too much action. And bring a pillow, ‘cause it’s a long one. I almost nodded off a few times, and that’s the truth. They coulda told the same story in half the time, I reckon. But hey, that’s just my two cents.
Overall, I’d say it’s a watchable movie, but nothin’ to write home about. Pretty to look at, but the story’s kinda slow and the characters ain’t all that memorable, ‘cept for maybe that Snow fella. If you got nothin’ better to do on a rainy afternoon, give it a whirl. But don’t say I didn’t warn ya about the length!
One more thing, they got these fancy words the critics use, like “narratively uneven” and “ambitious intentions.” Don’t ask me what all that means. I just know what I see, and what I see is a movie that coulda been better. They spent too much time on the chit-chat and not enough time on the important stuff, that’s what I think.
Tags: [“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, “Hunger Games”, “Movie Review”, “Coriolanus Snow”, “Lucy Gray Baird”, “Prequel”, “Suzanne Collins”, “Film Criticism”]
