'The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' misses notes - and Jennifer Lawrence

It's been over a decade since Katniss Everdeen first graced the big screen and "The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" misses too many notes to live up to its predecessor's achievements.

The newest installment of "The Hunger Games" franchise takes the prominent villain of the original films, President Coriolanus Snow, and gives the audience a look at how the man became the legend.

"Hope is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous." President Snow says this to Hunger Games Gamemaker Seneca Crane in the 2012 film, and ironically hope was the biggest thing missing from this film.

Stellar performances can't save the constant feeling of dread

I know, a movie centered around kids being thrown into an arena to kill each other doesn't particularly elicit feelings of joy. However, something the original four films got right was giving audiences something to root for.

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Katniss' journey from tribute to victor to Mockingjay gave the audience hope that the districts of Panem would eventually be liberated and a new world without The Hunger Games would be built.

Here, we see Snow working to get his family out of destitution from the war that took place a decade prior and all the while we know what his fate will be. While Tom Blyth does an excellent job of portraying a young Snow, his charisma slowly turns to bloodthirst and madness for seemingly little reason.

Jennifer Lawrence is definitely missed

Meanwhile, his tribute, Lucy Gray Baird, a songbird who fell into District 12 with her traveling musical troupe, lacks the depth Katniss had in the prior films. Played by Rachel Zegler, Lucy Gray spends most of the film serenading the Capitol members, bar-goers and, at one point, literal snakes. Not even Lucy Gray's voice, sweetness and rainbow-colored dress could hold a candle to Jennifer Lawrence's Mockingjay.

The premise of improving the Hunger Games is intriguing

The premise is interesting. The 10th annual Hunger Games needs to be revamped. No one was watching as kids were just being thrown into an abandoned arena and stabbing each other. There were no flashy arenas with unbelievable technology, twists and turns or people betting on which tribute would be crowned victor.

The graduating class of the Academy is tasked with making this year's game more interesting to keep the tradition alive. Snow cleverly comes up with the idea of people betting on tributes and sponsoring them in order to send the tributes supplies in the arena.

And that's where that ends — a homework assignment that only took up about 15 minutes of screen time.

The rest of the film follows Snow and Baird's budding relationship and seeing their ideals not match up in the end. Who would have guessed a free-range songbird and a future dictator wouldn't see eye-to-eye?

"The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" comes out of the gate strong and falls into a blurry mess by the time the credits roll. Viewers come into the theater will high expectations after the juggernaut of the original films and will likely leave underwhelmed and confused as a whole.

What it gets right are impeccable costumes and cinematography that actually aid in the storytelling. Basic color theory is easy to spot in this film, with the "good" Lucy Gray always decked in bright, light colors while those in power at the Capitol are notably decked in blood red. It allows the audience to quickly place people in the category of "good" and "bad" without having to show much.

Meanwhile, director Francis Lawrence uses a similar camera style as with his previous installments in the franchise, opting for tight closeups to really see every emotion in flickering in the eyes. The hectic camerawork during the game itself puts the audience in the arena and creates a sense of being too close and a feeling of danger that worked.

'Snow lands on top' rings true in the prequel

The family motto "Snow lands on top" rang true in this prequel. After watching Snow's descent into madness, we finally see the composed and calculating man we come to hate down the road.

While Blyth's portrayal of a well-despised character can't go unnoticed and Zegler brings brightness to a bleak world, the issue is there isn't enough time to develop their relationship and make sense of Snow's turn from normal to bloodthirsty.

The film closes with a missing person, another notch on the death tally and Snow being taken under the wing of current head Gamemaker Dr. Volumnia Gaul, played by Viola Davis. Now hardened by heartache, Snow's sentiment of "it's the thing we love most that destroys us" feels a little too on the nose as the final line of the film.

'The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' 3 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Francis Lawrence.

Cast: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, Jason Shwartzman.

Rating: PG-13 for strong violent content and disturbing material.

How to watch: In theaters Friday, Nov. 17.

Meredith G. White is the entertainment reporter for The Arizona Republic |azcentral.com. You can find her on Facebook as Meredith G. White, on Instagram and Twitter as @meredithgwhite, and email her atmeredith.white@arizonarepublic.com.

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