In every review that I have written about the “Hunger Games” films I have at least mentioned how repellent I find the premise of children and teenagers forced to hunt and kill each other by an authoritarian state, for purposes of entertainment and population control.  I still feel that way, but I think it’s time I stop railing against this premise, since I have awarded each of the five “Hunger Games” films ratings of three or three-and-a-half stars; that is, I see them as superior motion picture entertainment.  As much as the premise disturbs me, each of these films is well made, exciting, thought-provoking and even inspiring.  They work, and I need to stop carping about their immorality; the fight against the authoritarian state is exactly the point.

Francis Lawrence’s current prequel takes place decades earlier than the other “Hunger Games” quartet, with the Games only a decade old and happily unpopular.  So Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) changes the formula, providing each of the twenty-four tributes with mentors, well-to-do students about to graduate, who will need their charges to do well in the Games to ensure their own futures.  Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) is tasked with mentoring Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a pretty girl with a pretty voice who has virtually no chance at all.  But the Game Master (Viola Davis) wants spectacle — and viewership — rather than slaughterhouse violence, and Snow devises ways to help prolong the contest, help his own charge, and boost viewership.

By itself, this would be engrossing action fiction, and it is, but this two-and-a-half hour adventure boasts a wider scope.  The tenth annual contest is only part of the story, and hanging over it all is that anybody who has paid attention to this series, books or films or both, knows who Coriolanus Snow eventually becomes.  We see all of Snow’s actions, noble and selfish, as circumstances evolve and change, as he tries to provide for his own family, protect Lucy Gray and keep from being hanged himself for traitorous activity.  Snow is the key player here, and he’s a fascinating subject.  It’s like watching young Darth Vader before he turns completely evil, only with better writing and direction.

But the heart of the story is Lucy Gray, how she captures the hearts of the viewing public — including Snow — and how she handles all of the turbulence around her.  She is the songbird of the title, and she is superbly portrayed by Rachel Zegler, who was so good as Maria in West Side Story two years ago.  Everyone else is very good as well, which reflects just how well Francis Lawrence is tied into this material (he directed all but the very first “Hunger Games” movie).  The last half hour drags a bit and isn’t as tightly focused as the rest of the picture, but overall this is another very good movie about a subject that I will always have trouble accepting.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  26 December 2023.