Die Tribute von Panem - The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes

A rare feat in film history — returning to a series years later with a prequel, especially after the original series showed a decline in quality. Stretching this prequel to nearly three hours seemed risky, but the result is surprisingly good. A major plus is Francis Lawrence's direction. He knew exactly what to shoot and how to set the film's boundaries. The length is actually the least of its problems. The movie boasts a great atmosphere and pays attention to detail, with plenty of nods for fans familiar with the Hunger Games series. While it does lose a bit of steam and gets unnecessarily complicated towards the end, the final scene delivers a fitting surprise. Overall, it's a solid watch, especially for fans of the series. It may not be as appealing to newcomers, but hey, if someone greenlit the budget, why not? (22.04.2024)

Ich habe die Rückkehr in die Welt der Hunger Games nach acht Jahren begrüßt, auch wenn es stimmt, dass das Ende der ursprünglichen Trilogie (oder Tetralogie) in gewisser Weise darunter gelitten hat, dass das dritte Buch auf zwei Filme aufgeteilt wurde. Ich habe die Vorgeschichte nicht gelesen (im Gegensatz zur Trilogie), deshalb war ich neugierig, mit welcher Art von Geschichte ich es zu tun haben würde. Mir gefiel, dass sich die Handlung auf die Geburt bzw. Ausbildung des Charakters von Snow konzentrierte, und ich lobe die Besetzung von Tom Blyth, dem diese Wandlung von einer relativ unschuldigen Position zu einer eher psychopathischen glaubhaft gelang. Rachel Zegler spielte eine ähnliche Rolle wie in West Side Story aus dem vorvorigen Jahr, und ich habe ihre Musiknummern sehr genossen. Die Entwicklung der Beziehung zwischen Snow und Lucy Grey war in der Tat stark, zuerst süß, dann abschreckend. Die teuflische Viola Davis und der zwiespältige Peter Dinklage haben ihre schauspielerischen Qualitäten nur bestätigt, und die kleinere Rolle der Fionnula Flanagan hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Während des gesamten Films kommt man nicht umhin, Vergleiche mit Nazi-Deutschland zu ziehen (mir gefielen die Szenen aus dem "umgestalteten" Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Leipzig), und es war interessant zu sehen, wie die Hungerspiele in ihren Anfängen konzipiert wurden - in den "bescheidenen" Eingeweiden eines Stahlbetonmonsters. P. S. "Die Dinge, die wir am meisten lieben, zerstören uns." (21.11.2023)

The prequel to The Hunger Games isn't a bad movie, it has its bright moments, but the actual Hunger Games, which should have been the main highlight are unfortunately not as engrossing as I expected. The 10th Hunger Games begins. Each of the students becomes a mentor and gets one assigned from each region and their job is to win the Hunger Games together. The main character is the likeable Coriolanus Snow, who gets a girl, and underdog, who can only sing. I liked the chemistry between them, Rachel Zegler is a very beautiful woman (and sings very nice), the emotions and romance work and these two pull the film up nicely. Of the characters, Peter Dinklage is also a great. Visually, of course, the film is on par, and even though it doesn't have a very thrilling pace, it certainly doesn't get boring, and the Hunger Games are quite thrilling, it's just a pity that there aren’t more traps, challenges and pitfalls. It's kind of Battle Royale style but without the gore, so I didn't get much excitement. There's not much action outside of the game itself, but it's quite imaginative and clever (the decisions Snow makes are pretty cool), it's just a shame that the main character doesn't fight at all. The second half surprisingly turns into a completely different movie and we watch Snow's interesting character development undergoing a really interesting and unexpected transformation. There are more songs than action for my taste, but they were at least enjoyable to listen to. All in all, an enjoyable film that I don't regret watching, but nothing that would make me sit on my ass. I have it between 3 and 4 stars, but I'll be more strict this time. I don't need to see it again. 65%. (03.12.2023)

I'll be honest, the new Hunger Games doesn't have the vibe of the old episodes and I probably won't watch it again. People rewatch Hunger Games because of the diverse arenas and Catniss, who carved an emotional path over the years, but here, the protagonist is not very interesting; Snow is fine, but not a character I want to keep coming back to. For me, it's the first two thirds of the movie in the arena that are the "weaker" part, definitely not boring, entertaining with fine ideas, action and the whole imaginative flow, but just not a strong enough event to make me want to revisit it repeatedly with popcorn. The strongest part of the film for me, ironically, comes in the last third, where the character of Snow is portrayed absolutely perfectly, it masterfully shows how to work with a character who deep down wants to go back to the Capitol, and without much convincing, rather just hints, he shows the audience his desires, but also that his emotions are fighting with the opposite feelings, namely his love for the rebellion and his desire to help the rebels. For me, then, the real final pleasure is just waiting to see which side the main character will eventually join and under what conditions he will come to that conclusion. The second half had me completely engrossed and I have to say that I haven't seen a main character's ambivalence this well presented in quite some time and I devoured it with every scene. As a result, for me, the new Hunger Games is more of a standalone film that is simply different from the previous installments and stands on a completely different footing, but one where I'm downright thrilled with the creative work regarding the main character Snow, who is unfortunately dragged down by uninteresting events and the ubiquitous, annoying musical chants, to the point where I wondered if I was really in the death arena, or at a Taylor Swift concert... (18.11.2023)