yasinhussain-14721
Joined Dec 2019
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yasinhussain-14721's rating
My favourite film of 2023.
And considering this is now my favourite installment in my second favourite film franchise, you can imagine this ranks pretty highly on my all-time list. In fact, this is in my top 10, as crazy as that may sound.
But now onto why that is. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) exceeded my expectations a million times over. I absolutely loved every single thing about this.
Let's start off with the cast. I'm surprised that I haven't seen much mention of Tom Blyth's portrayal of the infamous President Snow, as he was truly staggering. I knew that this wouldn't be the kind of movie to receive Oscar nominations, but I genuinely believe Blyth's performance was worthy of a nom it was that good. As for Rachel Zegler, not only did she provide us with a passionate and emotive showing, but her singing was beautifully enchanting. Heck, I'm getting goosebumps right now just listening to the soundtrack! There are also some noteworthy supporting performances, primarily Viola Davis', who completely transforms into the sinister, manipulative Dr. Volumnia Gaul, in both appearance and psyche. Her unflinching determination in her ghastly work will leave you terrified of her whenever she is on screen. Additionally, Jason Schwartzman does an impressive job of echoing Stanley Tucci's portrayal of Caesar Flickerman in the original Hunger Games films as Lucky Flickerman here, as he is just as snappy and exuberant as his counterpart.
Essentially the entire cast is great. Admittedly though, some of the actors and actresses playing the other students do underperform to say the least, but it's a very minor scruple that I have with this feature.
This picture doesn't drag at all, and that is due to an excellent decision to have title cards at the beginning of each act. It may seem like a small thing, but if it wasn't for that, everybody who hadn't read the book, including myself, would've expected the film to end with the ending of Act 2, but thanks to the Act 3 title card, we immediately expect the movie to continue for another 40 minutes or so. If it wasn't for that title card, we would've been sat there for the next 40 minutes or so thinking "when is this gonna end?". The reason I mention it is because I think if it weren't for that, this would've received noticeably worse ratings, as a lot of people would've found this to be a drag, so I believe these title cards are vital to the film's positive reception.
I talked a little bit about the soundtrack earlier, and it is a wonderful one at that. I listened to it on repeat for hours after I'd seen the movie. Rachel Zegler's songs (which she sings live on set) are the standouts of course, after all they're probably what this installment will be most remembered for, but even the other songs are fantastic to listen to, and I'll probably be adding a lot of songs from this soundtrack to my personal playlist.
The costume design is exceptional by the way, definitely the best of the series. You've not only got the iconic, kaleidoscopic floral dress of Lucy Gray, but there's also brilliant costumes for the likes of Dr. Volumnia Gaul, Tigris Snow, etc.
I could go on and on and on, but I really ought to stop here. To summarise, this is a captivating and majestic installment in the Hunger Games franchise that will never leave my mind.
And considering this is now my favourite installment in my second favourite film franchise, you can imagine this ranks pretty highly on my all-time list. In fact, this is in my top 10, as crazy as that may sound.
But now onto why that is. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) exceeded my expectations a million times over. I absolutely loved every single thing about this.
Let's start off with the cast. I'm surprised that I haven't seen much mention of Tom Blyth's portrayal of the infamous President Snow, as he was truly staggering. I knew that this wouldn't be the kind of movie to receive Oscar nominations, but I genuinely believe Blyth's performance was worthy of a nom it was that good. As for Rachel Zegler, not only did she provide us with a passionate and emotive showing, but her singing was beautifully enchanting. Heck, I'm getting goosebumps right now just listening to the soundtrack! There are also some noteworthy supporting performances, primarily Viola Davis', who completely transforms into the sinister, manipulative Dr. Volumnia Gaul, in both appearance and psyche. Her unflinching determination in her ghastly work will leave you terrified of her whenever she is on screen. Additionally, Jason Schwartzman does an impressive job of echoing Stanley Tucci's portrayal of Caesar Flickerman in the original Hunger Games films as Lucky Flickerman here, as he is just as snappy and exuberant as his counterpart.
Essentially the entire cast is great. Admittedly though, some of the actors and actresses playing the other students do underperform to say the least, but it's a very minor scruple that I have with this feature.
This picture doesn't drag at all, and that is due to an excellent decision to have title cards at the beginning of each act. It may seem like a small thing, but if it wasn't for that, everybody who hadn't read the book, including myself, would've expected the film to end with the ending of Act 2, but thanks to the Act 3 title card, we immediately expect the movie to continue for another 40 minutes or so. If it wasn't for that title card, we would've been sat there for the next 40 minutes or so thinking "when is this gonna end?". The reason I mention it is because I think if it weren't for that, this would've received noticeably worse ratings, as a lot of people would've found this to be a drag, so I believe these title cards are vital to the film's positive reception.
I talked a little bit about the soundtrack earlier, and it is a wonderful one at that. I listened to it on repeat for hours after I'd seen the movie. Rachel Zegler's songs (which she sings live on set) are the standouts of course, after all they're probably what this installment will be most remembered for, but even the other songs are fantastic to listen to, and I'll probably be adding a lot of songs from this soundtrack to my personal playlist.
The costume design is exceptional by the way, definitely the best of the series. You've not only got the iconic, kaleidoscopic floral dress of Lucy Gray, but there's also brilliant costumes for the likes of Dr. Volumnia Gaul, Tigris Snow, etc.
I could go on and on and on, but I really ought to stop here. To summarise, this is a captivating and majestic installment in the Hunger Games franchise that will never leave my mind.
In my opinion, the most underrated film of the series, and I honestly don't get why. It's an utterly thrilling action-packed movie that personally never bored me for a second.
The main reason why I considered this to be my favourite Hunger Games installment back when I first watched it was essentially because it really hit me on an emotional level, primarily due to the undeserved death of an innocent character. Now it is no longer in the top spot for me, but that is simply down to the fact that I finally recognised the sheer greatness of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), which I have now ranked above this sequel.
But ultimately, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) is still a masterpiece in my eyes.
The main reason why I considered this to be my favourite Hunger Games installment back when I first watched it was essentially because it really hit me on an emotional level, primarily due to the undeserved death of an innocent character. Now it is no longer in the top spot for me, but that is simply down to the fact that I finally recognised the sheer greatness of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), which I have now ranked above this sequel.
But ultimately, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) is still a masterpiece in my eyes.
When I first watched this I considered it to be one of my least favourite Hunger Games films, and I still firmly have that same opinion now. It's not a bad movie, it's just not on the level of the other three (yet I still give this a 10/10 rating just because I love The Hunger Games so much). Upon this rewatch, I primarily noticed just how much this installment can drag, particularly when they're shooting the propos. Also I would say that the reason why this is not generally rated as highly as the others is simply because, nothing really happens here, at least not up until the last 10-15 minutes. But even at the climax, the ending is a relatively small one in comparison to what we've experienced from the other installments, hence why this is the weakest film out of the bunch.
Yet I still love it, and I can't even describe why. I guess I just love the vibe of it more than anything else.
But one thing I wanted to mention which I noticed during this viewing was the impeccable, and even terrifying, performance of Josh Hutcherson, especially during the ending. If there's one thing this sequel has going for it, it's that it contains arguably Hutcherson's best singular piece of acting of the entire series.
Yet I still love it, and I can't even describe why. I guess I just love the vibe of it more than anything else.
But one thing I wanted to mention which I noticed during this viewing was the impeccable, and even terrifying, performance of Josh Hutcherson, especially during the ending. If there's one thing this sequel has going for it, it's that it contains arguably Hutcherson's best singular piece of acting of the entire series.