The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

[Eric Duncan]

Discuss

[Youngstar]

I loved the movie(8-9/10), but I'm still kinda disappointed in some aspects? idk. Everyone did an amazing job, but some of the scene omissions are very felt. Snows inner thoughts are very noticably absent, which makes it kinda hard to tell what he is thinking sometimes. I already have that emotional connection from the book so it doesn't matter as much to me, but I feel like a alot of Sejanus and his family scenes were cut, which probably hurts the viewers ability to connect to him. I also would have loved to see more of Clem. The third act also suffers from quite a few cuts and I get it. Lots of it is repetition. He is just training, then tries to find lucy gray, comes back etc. There is buildup to the Jabberjay scene(It kinda came out of nowhere here) And idk how well the final scene in the forest works without Snows thoughts. (I know them, so I can't really judge that) They did the best they basically could do in the timeframe and I get why they did only 1 movie(just commercial wise), but I still would have loved a 2 movie treatment.

[Hermia]

I really liked this movie, and it's been a while since I enjoyed a movie that I didn't think I would like.

[Morieris]

14 hours ago, Youngstar said:

Snows inner thoughts are very noticably absent, which makes it kinda hard to tell what he is thinking sometimes.

 

Yeah, sometimes they have Snow say something that clearly is supposed to be reminiscent of it, and I feel a lot of the lingering on his face was supposed to be "We really hope he's conveying enough emotion, because we'd have his internal monologue here, but..." and I get why they didn't add a silly voiceover, but it is missed.

 

I still enjoyed it so much and liked how faithful it was, if only it had given us more time to breathe in the first like 45 minutes. Once it hits the games, it's perfect, and even me not enjoying the District 12 stuff in the book wasn't so bad.

[Youngstar]

20 minutes ago, Morieris said:

 

Yeah, sometimes they have Snow say something that clearly is supposed to be reminiscent of it, and I feel a lot of the lingering on his face was supposed to be "We really hope he's conveying enough emotion, because we'd have his internal monologue here, but..." and I get why they didn't add a silly voiceover, but it is missed.

 

I still enjoyed it so much and liked how faithful it was, if only it had given us more time to breathe in the first like 45 minutes. Once it hits the games, it's perfect, and even me not enjoying the District 12 stuff in the book wasn't so bad.

oh yeah 100%. I feel like the 2 biggest things I would have loved to see is more of Sejanus/his Ma and maybe have a bit more buildup to the jabberjay scene, so that part doesn't come so out of nowhere.

[Morieris]

The more I think about it, the more I understand why critics who didn't read the book didn't like it, but there is one aspect I wish they leaned into more.

 

Spoiler

In the book When the kids escape, it's more than just Reaper, it's two other kids as well, and they're drawn and quartered in a very grisly kind of parade because two of the Capitol children ended up killed in that arena bombing.

 

Either add that and the fact that hey, the Capitol children are also being killed, see how this hurts more than one group, or actually add some blood at points. Arachne gets stabbed in the jugular and we see no blood on her or Coryo's hands.

 

I feel I remember, even with the shaky cam, the first movie was much more clear about the brutality than this was. Maybe it's because we can currently see human rights violations in real time and cold for the past 2 years they chose to omit it.

 

This would have given us time to slow down and maybe reach the Games at minute 55 and not minute 45.

[DInky]

Can somebody who has the read the book explain to me what Snow thought was going to happen to his friend when he recorded that conversation? It was weird seeing him cry about it later.

Edited November 18, 2023 by DInky

[Litio]

19 minutes ago, DInky said:

Can somebody who has the read the book explain to me what Snow thought was going to happen to his friend when he recorded that conversation? It was weird seeing him cry about it later.

I haven't read the book, but this is in the movie

 

Spoiler

In one of Snow's conversations with Sejanus, Snow tells Sejanus not to do anything that breaks the rules so that he (Snow) doesn't end up being punished with him (Sejanus). Sejanus refuses, then Snow records the conversation to protect and free himself from any punishment for Sejanus' actions.

 

Snow cries because his conscience weighed heavily when he saw that his 'friend' had a photo of them together in his suitcase. He felt guilty for a moment.

 

[Youngstar]

23 minutes ago, DInky said:

Can somebody who has the read the book explain to me what Snow thought was going to happen to his friend when he recorded that conversation? It was weird seeing him cry about it later.

Well he started the recording without really thinking about it. (a more subconscious decision) He also thought that if Dr Gaul really checked the recording(he wasn't sure she would) Sejanus would be protected by his father and be discharged. He was really unsure if he had done the right thing(since it was more of an impulsive decision), but was also worried of being implicated in the rebel plot. And even though he constanly thought that Sejanus was not really his friend, his sudden death really hit him.

[Morieris]

Spoiler

When Coryo called Tigris when he was in 12 and he went "Wait, where are you?" My first thought was "Was he just calling random phone numbers to find them." and not "They picked up this giant rotary phone and carried it with them to a smaller apartment."

 

[Youngstar]

53 minutes ago, Morieris said:

  Reveal hidden contents

When Coryo called Tigris when he was in 12 and he went "Wait, where are you?" My first thought was "Was he just calling random phone numbers to find them." and not "They picked up this giant rotary phone and carried it with them to a smaller apartment."

 

lol

[emoviefan]

Really liked the movie. Yeah there is some stuff missing from the book that would have made it better and it did feel like it sped through some scenes that are drawn out in the book but that is the nature of book to movie adapation if you don't want to make the movie too long or split it into two movies which Francis Lawrence said was probably a mistake for Mockingjay. 

[Youngstar]

56 minutes ago, emoviefan said:

Really liked the movie. Yeah there is some stuff missing from the book that would have made it better and it did feel like it sped through some scenes that are drawn out in the book but that is the nature of book to movie adapation if you don't want to make the movie too long or split it into two movies which Francis Lawrence said was probably a mistake for Mockingjay. 

yeah that's true. We know they had like 1 hour more of footage(idk if that was all deleted scenes or some alternate scenes as well), but I would instantlly watch a longer version.

[nguyenkhoi282]

I would watch a movie about the war before the hunger games. That short scene at the beginning of BOSS looks dope.

[filmlover]

Reasonably diverting but overlong and can't overcome the overwhelming sense that it's ultimately completely unnecessary in the end. As a prequel, there's not much tension because we already know what Snow's fate is. Tom Blyth is solid, though he seems to be channeling a young Ryan Gosling more than an early Donald Sutherland. Rachel Zegler is similarly fine. Viola Davis is clearly having a grand time camping it up in her handful of scenes, but I thought Peter Dinklage's performance was giving serious "slumming for a paycheck" vibes.

 

I will say I didn't expect there to be as much singing in this as there was though. Now it makes sense why a Hunger Games stage adaptation is development. 

 

B-

[titanic2187]

I love how a movie turns from a fairy-tale like adventure into dark anti-romance thriller. Also, a lot prequels tend to become more technologically advanced in their aesthetic style , especially SW prequels trilogy. BOSS managed to avoid this issue as it genuinely look like something that took place few decades ago before the original HG.   

 

Overall this is definitely one of my movie of the year.

[Torontofan]

Pointless