Before Nov. 17, it had been 2,919 days since the life-altering Hunger Games universe had introduced the world to new cinematic content. In 2020, the book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes came out and altered the perspectives of many fans. Serving as a prequel to the already ultra-famous series, the book gave admirers a chance to understand more about the main antagonist, Coriolanus Snow, and more specifically, the events that led him to have the intensely dictator-like leadership mindset.

I read this book quite a while ago, meaning many aspects of the movie and plot were a mystery to me. Seeing as the adaptation for this series in the past has remained consistently high-quality, I was looking forward to seeing words I had read come to life on the screen, even with the distance between my time of reading and watching. A big part of the story is the music, so I was apprehensive about what the delivery was going to be like before watching it, especially knowing that many people probably had different interpretations of the songs because official versions had never been audibly accessible before the film. Upon leaving the theater, all I wanted to do was put on the soundtrack and process everything I had just witnessed. The soundtrack left me bewildered, and definitely moved the plotline forward and kept viewers immersed.

As much as I enjoyed this viewing experience, a few parts could have afforded to be expanded. There is so much content in this book that deserves thorough deep dives, and for the most part, this concept is understood and followed through with, seeing as The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is already a two-and-a-half-hour long movie. With that being said, adding a second part to allow time to flush out all ideas truly could largely benefit the overall perception and allow bits that weren’t super easily adaptable from novel to film on a smaller scale to be enhanced and allow for a less rushed feel to the movie.

Throughout the movie, I remained on the edge of my seat, always excited to see what would come next. The entire film had a climactic and suspenseful feel to it, and I couldn’t help but go home and immediately reread and rewatch all aspects of the Hunger Games franchise before The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.