hunger games ballad review

Well, let me tell ya, I went to see this movie, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” and I got a few things to say about it. Don’t know much about them fancy critics and their big words, but I know what I like and what I don’t.

First off, it’s a long one, near three hours I think. My old bones started achin’ in that theater seat, but I stuck it out. It’s about this young fella, Coriolanus Snow, before he became the big bad president we all know. He’s tryin’ to make somethin’ of himself, ya know, gotta get that scholarship money. And this girl, Lucy Gray Baird, she’s from District 12, picked to be in the Hunger Games.

Now, the Hunger Games, they ain’t pretty. Kids killin’ kids, it’s a cruel world they live in. This movie shows ya how it all started, how the Games got to be the way they are. They got these mentors, see, and Coriolanus, he gets stuck with Lucy Gray. He ain’t too happy about it at first, but then things change.

• The young fella, Tom Blyth, he plays Coriolanus. He’s alright, I guess. Got that look, ya know, like he’s thinkin’ hard all the time.
• And Rachel Zegler, she’s Lucy Gray. She sings real purty, got a voice like a bird. And she’s tough, that one, got a fire in her belly.

The movie, it’s got its ups and downs. Some parts are real excitin’, got you on the edge of your seat. Other parts, they drag on a bit. They talk and talk, and I’m thinkin’, “Get on with it already!” But then somethin’ happens, and it pulls you back in.

They say this Francis Lawrence fella directed it. He did a good job, I reckon. The way it looks, the colors and all, it’s somethin’ special. And them songs, Lucy Gray sings ’em, they stick in your head. But like I said, it ain’t perfect.

This here movie, it’s supposed to tell ya how Snow became the villain he is. And it does, kinda. You see him makin’ choices, some good, some bad. You see him hurtin’ people, and gettin’ hurt himself. It ain’t all black and white, ya see. There’s gray areas, just like in real life.

Now, some folks say this is the worst Hunger Games movie yet. I don’t know about that. I ain’t seen all the others. But I can tell ya, it ain’t a bad movie. It’s got a story to tell, and it tells it pretty good. It makes ya think, ya know? About power, and love, and what people will do to survive.

I heard some folks complainin’ it was too long, too slow. Maybe so. But I think it needed that time to show ya how things changed, how Snow changed. It ain’t just about the action, it’s about the characters, their choices, the kinda folks they are.

One thing I didn’t like, all that fancy talk. These city folk, they use big words I don’t understand. But I got the gist of it, ya know? It’s about a young man tryin’ to make his way in the world, and a young woman tryin’ to survive. And it’s about the choices they make, and how those choices change them, and the world around ’em.

So, would I recommend this movie? Yeah, I guess I would. It ain’t perfect, but it’s worth seein’. Just be prepared to sit a spell, and don’t expect it to be all sunshine and roses. It’s a Hunger Games movie, after all. There’s gonna be some darkness, some sadness. But there’s also some hope, some beauty, and some darn good singin’.

And that’s all I gotta say about that. Go see it for yourself, make up your own mind. Don’t let them fancy critics tell ya what to think.

Tags: The Hunger Games, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Movie Review, Prequel, Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Suzanne Collins, Francis Lawrence