Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
When I was a kid, I loved hats. I constantly needed my dome covered, and there was one hat in particular I loved. I wore it every day for every occasion. It started to fall apart, but I wasn't giving it up that easily. I used staples, duct tape and black markers at different points to try and patch tears, cover holes and touch-up blemishes. I wanted to get absolutely everything I could out of that hat. I still loved it, but my parents and some friends gently told me it was time to give up the ghost.
Hollywood has the same love affair with successful franchises as I did with that hat — the fact that too much time has passed or the story has already come to its logical end will never stop Hollywood from figuring out how to make a few more dollars from the franchise.
Harry Potter has "Fantastic Beasts," Transformers has whatever you want to call what they've done and, now, The Hunger Games has "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes."
The latest movie was originally a book by the franchise's original author, Suzanne Collins. Still, this story is a glimpse into President Coriolanus Snow's rise to power in the fictitious nation of Panem.
What follows are some reasons I liked and didn't like "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes."
The good
The return to the world
One of my favorite things about the "Hunger Games" books and films was the world wherein it was built. It's a dystopian future with vibes of days long past. Getting caught up in the political strife, class wars and differences between districts, and the Capitol was accessible.
"Songbirds and Snakes" sends us right back to that world, but we glimpse things before they reach the heights we'd become accustomed to in the earlier films. It felt nostalgic to revisit Panem, the Capitol and District 12. The sets and design of the world are engrossing and that, alone, kept me engaged for a good portion of the film.
The story is engaging
The story of "Songbirds and Snakes" didn't capture quite like that of Katniss Everdeen's, but I was invested. I won't give anything away, but I care about the characters and their relationships. The needs and desires of the multiple characters and the interweaving storylines are intriguing. They unraveled just enough to whet my appetite but kept me wanting for more.
We all know Snow eventually becomes the leader of Panem and Katniss's antagonist. Still, it's not clear how he gets there in "Songbirds and Snakes." It can be challenging to keep an audience invested when we know the outcome. Still, the story gave plenty of surprises and twists along the way to the inevitable conclusion.
The bad
It's too long
"Songbirds and Snakes" is about 2 hours, 40 minutes — and it feels like it. It seemed we had reached a conclusion, and all we needed was the epilogue, but we weren't even close. Instead, we get a new story thread and end up on this ride for another 45 minutes, or more.
I don't dislike long movies, as long as it feels necessary and keeps the pace moving. This movie needed to be this long to tell the entire story, but it didn't keep my focus and interest.
I am not always a proponent of splitting a story into two movies, but "Songbirds and Snakes" could have benefitted from that approach. There is a natural conclusion to one portion of the story, and a second movie could have been more thorough in telling the second half of the narrative. The film would have benefitted from two movies of an hour and 45 minutes, instead of one long movie over two-and-a-half hours.
What parents should know
This is a "Hunger Games" movie, which means there is a contest where youth get in an arena and fight to the death until only one is standing. As you can imagine, the movie is violent and disturbing. I haven't seen the first four films in some time, but this movie felt more brutal than the others.
Much of the violence is off-screen, but we see right up to the moment of impact and then falling bodies and aftermath. The movie is PG-13, and violence and disturbing elements are how it earned such.
There isn't really any language or sex in the movie; it's just the dark tone, violence, disturbing imagery and allusions that will be too much for younger audiences, and maybe some older audiences, too.
Conclusion
"The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" was entertaining and exciting, but it dragged on too long for me. There was plenty of action and intrigue, but it felt like it was missing something challenging on which to put my finger. Maybe it's because it felt like the studio was force-feeding this movie and telling me I had to like it. After all, I have a relationship with the earlier films.
If you're a fan of "The Hunger Games," this movie will interest you, and you'll find it entertaining enough.
To wrap up the story about my hat, I finally realized it was time to let it go. My friends and I put it in a shoebox, lit it ablaze and sent it down the river to give it a proper goodbye. I could have kept piecing the thing back together to get more use from it, but it was time to let it go with the dignity it deserved.
Maybe Hollywood should do the same with some of its franchises.
"The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" is PG-13 for violence and disturbing elements.
