November 19th, 2023
Common Sense Media Age: 14+ Violence 4/5 Sex 2/5
My Age Recommendation: 14+ (Due to strong violence throughout, some gore, frequent distressing and disturbing imagery, and thematic elements throughout).
I remember reading this book when it came out a couple years ago and realizing how dark the origin of Coriolanus Snow really was, and I was always secretly hoping for a movie in the near future. After seeing one trailer for this a while ago, I was so ready for another movie in the Hunger Games series! The story follows Snow when he was 18 as he prepares for the 10th Hunger Games, in which his life will change forever as new morals open up inside of him that shape him to be the ruthless leader we know in the other Hunger Games movies and books. I will say this movie was a lot more violent and distressing than the book. It followed the same three-act structure as the book, but it delved away from the book in terms of thematic content and shockingly violent scenes. To visually show the slow disent into madness that Snow takes on, the movie uses many sequences of great acting from Tom Blyth as we see him slowly lose all his morals, and this helps a lot when furthering the story in the third act. The symbolism in this movie (as with all the Hunger Games movies and books) is apparent but still somewhat subtle, and I liked when all the little details throughout the movie left it for the audience to interpret some of the more intense scenes (I know this seems vague but this is a spoiler free review). The characters were developed well, but some of them in the third act were not, but it did not really matter due to the pacing. Despite this movie being almost three hours long, it did not feel like it until parts of the third act. The third act had some pacing issues, in which it flew by for 30 minutes and then drastically slowed down at the end to create the 'dramatic ending' for the movie, which I did enjoy. While I did not like how the pacing was uneven for the third act, it didn't take away from the overall effect of the movie, so I still gave it a 4/5 rating. As for dialogue, plot, and character chemistry, all of those things were execeptional and each one helped create a very disturbing and distressing atmosphere throughout. This movie was filmed with 75 minutes of it being in a 1.90 IMAX ratio, so I did see this in a true IMAX theater and it was definitely worth it. The sound was amazing (especially for any of the intense scenes) and it made your heart pound, and they used the expanded ratio to their advantage to show beautiful scenery and important settings such as open fields, the hunger games arena itself, and wide shots of the city. Overall, this was a great movie for any Hunger Games fan, and it is worth it to see it in IMAX!
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