This past weekend, the world was given the newest adaptation of the Panem universe, this being The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and blew my mind away. This is the warning that there will be spoilers in this review, so if you have not seen the movie yet, this is your warning.

As a Hunger Games nerd, I had very high hopes for this movie. However, what I didn’t expect was to be absolutely blown away by the acting performances of Tom Blyth, and Rachel Zegler. Blyth’s performance as Coriolanus Snow was absolutely impeccable and should get an Oscar nomination in my opinion. Zegler’s performance as the ever so peculiar Lucy Gray Baird, was simply astonishing. Her ability to incorporate the Appalachian accent into both words, and song was perhaps the most impressive thing about it.

As for the movie, the sinister darkness of the Hunger Games was absolutely there. The introduction to Dr. Gaul, played perfectly by the legend herself, Viola Davis, brought a new kind of evil into the story. Peter Dinklage was also just incredible, as he played Casca Highbottom, the creator of the games. Everything about each scene just felt so real, and it truly felt as if we were standing in that arena watching the games unfold. 

Having the movie be split into three parts, was a very good choice by director Francis Lawrence, who divided it up from everything before the games, the games itself, and what followed after. As always the music was simply perfect for this movie. Zegler’s rendition of some of the most recognizable songs from the franchise were done in a new, exciting way such as “The Hanging Tree”. All of the folk style music felt incorporated just right and you could really feel yourself moving with this music. 

There were some changes from the original book such as the death order and how tributes died. However, the changes were all done very well and they were done in a way that made it feel natural. I must say, knowing that Wovey was going to eventually die made me have a pit in my stomach, but having her die in the snake scene that also had four other tributes die made the pain sting a little less.

In terms of powerful scenes, this movie has about twenty of them. What I will say is that each scene was powerful in its own, unique way. If I had to select a top three I would have: Lucy Gray’s song when the snakes were all wrapping up over her, Reaper tearing down the capital flag to drape it over the dead body tributes as if to give them somewhat of a proper burial, and when Tigris, played by Hunter Schafer, told Coriolanus that he looked just like his father. I could come up with about ten more of these, but then I would be going through every single scene in this movie.

To conclude, this movie is a must see, and they did an excellent job adding into the world of Panem. The Hunger Games franchise is one of the most beloved, particularly between those in their older teens and mid twenties. Ask anyone in that age range about their Hunger Games era and they could probably tell you just how obsessed they were. Seeing this movie opening night was easily one of the best decisions I could have made, because soon after seeing it, I had nothing but spoilers and fan edits on my social media feeds.