Directed by franchise vet Francis Lawrence, the Katniss-free prequel to the dystopian saga launches the back story of Coriolanus Snow, here played by Tom Blyth.
It’s been eight years since the release of the last “Hunger Games” film, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2,” which means enough time has passed that it feels appropriate to return to the well that produced big box-office dollars for Lionsgate, and made Jennifer Lawrence a household name. It also helps that author Suzanne Collins released a prequel novel in 2020, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” which explores the young adult life of Coriolanus Snow, the future tyrannical president of Panem (played by Donald Sutherland in the films).
There is something comforting about slipping back into the world of Panem, dystopian and brutal as it is, especially in the capable hands of director Francis Lawrence, who helmed three out of four ‘Hunger Games’ films: ‘Catching Fire’ and both ‘Mockingjay’ installments. He is a true craftsman and an audacious visual stylist, bringing a Cold War Soviet flair to the Panem of 64 years before Katniss Everdeen.
The movie invites viewers to learn more about the background of Coriolanus, played here by Tom Blyth, and to witness the early days of the Hunger Games, in which the spectacle of children killing each other for sport is wielded as a tool of propaganda.
Though the games have already been happening for a decade in the era of “Songbirds,” the film follows the addition of mentors for the young tributes, here culled from the top students at a wealthy academy in the Capitol.
