Did The Phantom Menace die for nothing? Author Suzanne Collins played a risky game with her Panem-saga prequel novel, plotting how the series’ villain became the monster we know. Despite the tangible world-building and grandeur of the 2020 book and this faithful-to-a-fault film, they share a nagging issue: President Snow’s fill-the-blanks backstory isn’t as engaging as the plot’s other main strand.
With director Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1, and Part 2) returning, Ballad starts strong and bleakly dystopian in the post-war ‘Dark Days’. Sixty-four years pre-Katniss, the Snow family are struggling. But 18-year-old student Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) – Coryo to friends and fam – sees hope when he’s appointed to mentor a tribute and help reignite the flagging Hunger Games. Might travelling singer Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) redeem him? Or is the evil beard already rising?
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