Ten years after the completion of “The Hunger Games” trilogy, author Suzanne Collins published a prequel to the series, and three years later, a movie by the same title—”The Hunger Games: The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes”—was released. Since the movie’s premiere on Nov. 17, the film has brought in 197.3 million dollars worldwide from movie-goers who were excited to watch the latest installment of the series. I was among many of the fans of this series, and I think this movie is really worth the watch.

Over the course of the 2 hour and 38 minute movie, the plot follows a young President Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth, 64 years before the plot of the first “Hunger Games” movie. Snow, along with the rest of his top-of-the-class Capitol peers, is put in charge of mentoring Panem’s 10th annual Hunger Games’ tributes in a competition to receive a grant of money based on who is the best mentor. Snow gets put in charge of the least desirable candidate, the female tribute from District 12, Lucy Gray Baird, played by Rachel Zegler. The plot is split into three very different parts—Part I: The Mentor, Part II: The Prize and Part III: The Peacekeeper—exactly how the book is split up.

Although this film was on the longer side, beating the previous longest in the franchise by 14 minutes, I was happy it was. The book to this movie is over 500 pages, and unless that is split into more than one movie, it’s almost impossible to fit every important detail into the span of just two hours. I like when book-to-movie adaptations include a lot from the book because it helps bring to life a novel that I really enjoyed, which, in this instance, is the case.

Something else I really enjoy in franchises, whether it’s a sequel or a prequel, is tying back to the original. Maybe it’s just because of the story written by the mastermind behind it all, Suzanne Collins, but there were many different parts of the movie that were callbacks to the original four movies, even if they were subtle or very obvious. This story really ties back and shows things like the origin of the iconic song “The Hanging Tree” and Snow’s rise to power—and that’s something that I really value in series. 

Another thing that I really value when it comes to movies, and something that I always look at, is the acting. Rachel Zegler did an amazing job, and the scenes where she sang blew me away. She has a beautiful voice, and since Lucy Gray is a singer in a band, Zegler got the perfect role. Tom Blyth also did a phenomenal job as a young Coriolanus Snow. Although I knew of all the things Snow had done throughout his years and how bad of a person he was from the original series, I found it hard to hate Snow because of the charisma Blyth portrayed through the character. Even though there was a lot of charm about the character, it was also evident that he had a narcissistic personality that came out every once in a while. Snow was written in both the book and the movie as a very complex and layered character, which is something I really like to see. It’s interesting to be able to pick apart a character and see their reasoning. And my favorite thing about now having a prequel, and it being written from Snow’s perspective, is being able to see Snow from a different view than just seeing him from the original, where he is seen as only the villain, not the protagonist. 

While I enjoyed the film, when looking online, I’ve seen a lot of mixed feelings. Some see it as too long and lacking momentum, while others appreciate having an extension to the original series. People either love it or hate it, and I’m definitely on the love side. I’ve always loved the books and the original movies, and both the book and movie version of this title didn’t disappoint. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with this movie, and I think it doesn’t deserve the bad reviews it’s gotten but instead the good reviews. This movie is definitely worth the action-packed watch, whether you’re a fan of the original books, movies or neither.