There were two factors that made me question the necessity of "The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" beforehand: Firstly, it's a prequel, and secondly, it's also an origin story for a villain. These are both things that often make the plot more predictable than it should be because you know exactly where the journey is going. Even though this is also true in this Hunger Games prequel, I nevertheless quite enjoyed the movie overall. Panem is an interesting world. Because the action here takes place shortly after the war, you learn many reasons for the state of the world 64 years later. The eponymous "Hunger Games" are also very different from what we've seen before. Here they are much more scaled-back, grittier, and somehow also more brutal.

The casting of the main characters is also very successful. Tom Blyth is quite convincing as the future dictator Coriolanus Snow; above all, he manages to let the cool, calculating, and dangerous nature of his character shine through from the very beginning. Particularly strong, however, is Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird. Recently, there has been some very strange online hate against Zegler, but personally, I've found her good in everything I've seen her in. In "The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes", it's not just her acting talent that's required, but above all her enormous vocal skills, and she masters the task effortlessly. Of the rest of the cast, I would also single out Viola Davis, who, as Head Gamemaker, puts her stamp on every scene she's in.

Now, this all sounds pretty positive, but unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the last third of the movie as much. While the first third manages to introduce the characters very efficiently and the actual "Hunger Games" take place in the second third, the movie loses all momentum in the final act. Naturally, the characters had to be positioned so that they fit into the previously known story, which brings us back to the disadvantages of a prequel. Overall, however, I stick to my recommendation for the movie, even if the ending is perhaps a bit disappointing.