THG: TBoS&S is an action/adventure movie based on the Hunger Games prequel novel of the same name. Coriolanus Snow(Tom Blyth) is a teen(not the mustache twirling president he will become!) struggling with the economic situation to which his once vaulted family has fallen. In his latest class assignment he is tasked with mentoring a competitor in the hunger games. Who is he assigned? You guessed it! The female district 12 participant folksy singer Lucy Gray(Rachel Zegler)! Fireworks ensue!
Blythe is kinda pitch perfect as a young frustrated morally complicated aristocrat. You can see the ideals, the compromises, the necessities, the priorities all conflicted within him. Zegler puts on a twang and gets to sing a bit which is great and she too is able to get at that morale bargaining which is necessary. The support cast are all great- Jason Schwartzman as a young Lucky Flickerman, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom a dean at the Academy, and my-oh-my Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul is an absolute sensation. Davis just goes for it and it is a delight to watch, she steals every scene she's in.
Visually the film is rich, well made, great costumes and set design. It's actually really nice to re-visit this world and some of these characters even if, on paper, a HG prequel doesn't have much grab to it this really delivers. Its a bit overlong, the movie clearly ends and then there's another 40 minutes tacked on that feels like it could have been its own movie but still all-in-all a surprisingly engaging piece of entertainment. Maybe even more so given the last HG movie came out 8 years ago so there's enough room for this installment to actually breathe.
Well made, well acted, well constructed. A slick piece of popcorn entertainment.
Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.
See It.
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