EVERYONE HUNGERS FOR SOMETHING.

This prequel to the Hunger Games movies is set several decades earlier, portraying the young Snow long before he became President of Panem; here, he’s a poor student trying to improve his family’s standing by becoming a mentor for the tenth annual Hunger Games.

There’s some tension in this long but handsome film, featuring a solid performance by Tom Blyth in the lead.

Ultimately though, it’s a bit of a curiosity for die-hard franchise fans that doesn’t quite deliver emotionally, with an unsatisfying finale.

2023-U.S. 157 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Francis Lawrence. Screenplay: Michael Lesslie, Michael Arndt. Novel: Suzanne Collins. Cast: Tom Blyth (Coriolanus ”Coryo” Snow), Rachel Zegler (Lucy Gray Baird), Josh Andrés Rivera (Sejanus Plinth), Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Fionnula Flanagan.

Trivia: Co-produced by Lawrence.