Note to Self: Don’t Name Your Kid Coriolanus

Director Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes begins unexpectedly. The story takes place decades before the events of The Hunger Games, only ten years after the games were introduced to Panem. If you are unfamiliar, Panem is supposed to be the dystopian version of the United States, a country divided into twelve districts. The districts with the higher numbers are the poorest, often plagued with poverty and starvation, while the districts with the lower numbers are the most luxurious. This is because of their proximity to the Capitol, where the most elite citizens of Panem reside. Each year, one male and female contestant are chosen from each district to fight to the death in the Hunger Games as punishment for a huge district uprising that occurred ten years before A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes place.

Being the President of Panem in The Hunger Games, I would expect the male protagonist, Coriolanus Snow, to be rolling in dough. What he is rolling in, however, is roaches and asbestos in his shamrackle Capitol apartment. He lives with his grandmother and cousin Tigris, his parents having died when he was a child. Chosen to be a mentor of one of the district’s tributes, Snow is assigned to Lucy Gray Baird, a singing girl from the poorest district: twelve. In order to win a large grant to attend the Capitol University, Snow has to make sure Lucy Gray wins the Hunger Games, a near impossible task.

I'm not going to spoil the entire movie, but it consists of some sensitive topics; a lot of children die and the districts suffer. Divided into three parts, I never could really expect what would happen next; the movie is basically a rags to riches, enemies to lovers, dark dystopian, melodramatic mish-mosh, and I'm not that mad about it. And during the whole thing, Lucy Gray is constantly singing. I mean, have some compassion girl, that kid just drank rat poison.

Anywho, you might be wondering why I’m talking all about the Snow guy when Rachel Zegler is supposed to be the main character. I disagree; literally the entire movie is about Snow, like every scene is about him. Watch it, then try to check me. All in all, I liked it; sure I had a large popcorn and Diet Coke to ease the way, but I'm sure you'll have one too.

Viola Davis is in it too. She's great, but I'd like to have a talk with the person who styled her. Her character does have one blind eye but that doesn't mean she has to look like she got dressed in the dark. One of the dresses she wears looks like somebody decided to go on their break in the middle of dying it red. Maybe this is supposed to be an attribute to her character’s lust for bloodshed or maybe she just needs prescription glasses. Anyway, she slayed, favorite character hands down.

Besides the funky outfits and the fact that I could tell when they filmed the scenes based on Tom Blyth’s roots coming in, I would recommend seeing A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It was entertaining and the storyline was mostly unpredictable which is a big thing for me when watching movies; I don't want to know what's going to happen before it happens. Also, you probably already have FOMO from not seeing it yet, so just go see it. Tell me what you think later.