This was the only movie where when I saw the trailer I knew without further ado I was going to see it. The only exception would have been if I read that the makers horribly butchered the book or wedged a political agenda into it. I love Hunger Games, read all the books, and saw all the movies (even Mockingjay which shows true fan commitment on my part) so when I heard a prequel was coming I was sold. I was aware going into it that it was a villain origin story on President Snow and the growing depravity and corruption of the Capital so I didn’t expect it to be a particularly fun watch. Still, I heard the director was the same one who made Catching Fire (the series’ peak moment) and that spoke well of the film. An honest summation would be: as a movie it didn’t disappoint–but as a story it didn’t encourage.  This review will contain spoilers as well as a basic summary of the film so if you haven’t seen it yet, or don’t want to know, you can skip this till you’ve watched the film.               

An accurate and refreshingly unsympathetic take on a villain’s origins:

My primary bias of alleged villain origin stories in recent entertainment is that they don’t live up to the name. Every movie from Maleficent to Cruella Devil is striving to do one thing: make the villain a hero. Every one of them pushes the theme that “It’s not really the villains fault and all their bad behavior is a consequence of what’s been done to them.” Or, they strive for the age old theme which almost every villain in Once upon a Time pushes, “Feel sorry for me.” This perspective and theme is common but I think it comes from a simplistic view of tragedy and villainy in which creators espouse the idea that catastrophe and moral decay happens when “Bad things happen to good people.”

 This goes against the Aristotelian theory of tragedy as well as the Shakespearean one–both more authentic in my opinion than the one I’ve mentioned above. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, believed that true tragedy came from a comedy of errors, a series of events in which flawed people made the best of poor choices in a scenario where human error would doom the ending. This is seen most popularly in the master of tragedy, William Shakespeare. Every hero in Shakespeare is usually party to their own downfall: Othello’s weakness and temper lead him to lose his love, Hamlet’s depression leads him to lose Ophelia and make many other mistakes which bring about the tragic ending, and a hidden elopement and battle between feuding families results in the death of four people in Romeo and Juliet. This concept of the character's flaws being their own destruction is true of tragic heroes but more commonly villains. A well written villain may have reasons at the beginning for feeling hateful, vengeful, bitter or having selfish personal ambition, but regardless of the treatment or unfair hand life has dealt them the descent into villainy is their own choice and it’s their sins which bring about the worst of ends. To put it simply, I’m tired of alleged villains trying too hard to elicit sympathy from me when in reality they have a choice how to react to their circumstances. This movie makes it perfectly clear that while the main character–Snow–begins from a sympathetic place in which he couldn’t be entirely blamed for the positions he holds and what he’s progressing towards, as the film unfolds it’s evident that the blame for Snow’s villainy is his own sinful desires and ambitions.  

ACT I The hopeful but unsettling beginning:

The story was well done, it wasn’t encouraging–as I stated in my summation at the beginning of this article but I’ll get to that. The writers did a good job (and so did Suzanne Collins as I know she created the source material) of making the main character as sympathetic as he could be, and his situation understandable, so that when he’s pressed and the choice to respond in a villainous or heroic fashion is given to him we’re genuinely wondering which way it will turn. We know the character becomes President Snow so we have the spoiler that he becomes a monster–but in this film they could have just played the “I was a good person and the world did me wrong” card and they don’t.  

• In the opening of the film, Snow is poor and working his way up in the Capital while he takes care of his cousin Tigress and his grandmother. His father was murdered by rebels from the districts and as a child Snow nearly saw cannibalism amidst the war. It contributed to his bleak view of human nature and his understanding of the Hunger Games as well as what they bring out of allegedly civilized people. In present day, Snow is trying to fit in with the wealthy capital people and has a villainous view of people in the district because of what happened in the rebellion–he’s dehumanized them. Not to the degree which others in the capital have, because early in the film he still appears unnerved and uncomfortable by the bloodshed as if it’s a necessary evil but one he has no say in. 

• When Lucy Gray is introduced there’s a slight glimmer of hope and more gray added to the shades of Snow’s character. He’s told whoever mentors the winning tribute will receive a great deal of money, security and fame which will allow him to take his family out of poverty. Lucy Gray clearly doesn’t want any part in bloodshed and even sees a spark of goodness in Snow. Snow appears to be significantly offput and distracted by Lucy, but as the viewer we wonder if he’s actually romantically interested in her or if he’s merely being charming because he wants her to trust him so they can win. Snow’s friend Sejanus hates the Hunger Games and has passively consented to them as he represents one of the tributes as a mentor, but his goal is to humanize the tributes and change the Capital for the better–and idea which Snow early on tells him is impossible though he doesn’t denounce it. So early in the story the viewer has some hopes that Lucy will change Snow for the better and Sejanus will do the same with the capital. The thing which made the viewer uncomfortable in even this was that we know neither can come true–things get worse.

ACT II The slippery slope: 

• Snow is really the only reason Lucy survives in the games and again it’s unclear what his reasons are; because, as later shown in the film, he has romantic feelings for Lucy but he has his own reasons for wanting her to win. Snow first witnesses Doctor Gaul–the head game maker–kill one of his classmates for cheating and taking credit for Snow’s work. It unnerves him and he clearly dislikes Gaul’s actions, but seeing how easily human life is picked off by those in the Capital when they deem it necessary shapes his own threshold for what he’d be willing to do. Later on Gaul sends Snow into the Games when they freeze the feed so he can get out Sejanus who snuck in. While in the games, Snow kills one of the tributes in self-defense getting Sejanus out. He killed the tribute because they were trying to kill him but where the character shifts is that it doesn’t unnerve or upset him–he says if anything it felt powerful. When Katniss is forced to kill in the games, even when it’s in self defense she sees it as tragic and horrible because she knows none of the tributes want to be in there–they were forced. So the real enemy is the capital. Snow falls prey to seeing the tributes as chattel instead of people.

• Lucy is declared the winner but it’s as a result of Snow cheating and making her immune to the snakes which are thrown into the arena. Snow has a moment of victory but then is found out by Peter Dinklage’s character and punished by assuming the duties of a Peacekeeper. This again was somewhat unclear because Snow requests to go to the district where Lucy is–12. Presumably he goes to look for her, but he isn’t nearly as horrified by the Peacekeepers work as his friend is. Snow isn’t a mustache twisting villain so his turn isn’t obvious, but he isn’t as disgusted and repulsed by the evil around him as his friend Sejanus and a character like Katniss is.   

ACT III The point where there’s no more excuses and a villain is a villain:

• Snow finds Lucy and pursues a romantic relationship with her, but while doing so continues to dehumanize the people in 12 further showing his hypocrisy. He doesn’t mind oppressing people in 12 but he wants Lucy to be with him, and yet he knows he may not remain in 12 so one has to question what he actually sees his future with Lucy being. Does he see having one or is he looking to satisfy a passion without rhyme or reason? Lucy appears as though she’s been trying to sum him up as a person the whole film, she likes him–but she isn’t sure if she can trust him or not.

• Sejanus wants to run away with some rebels and leave 12. Snow records him saying that and sends it back to the Capital–leaving one to wonder if he ever cared about his friend at all. A confrontation with some rebels in 12 comes to a head, Sejenus, Lucy and Snow are there when the Mayor’s daughter overhears them talking about leaving 12 and says she’ll tell everyone. A verbal argument breaks out and people look as though they're about to fight when Snow grabs a gun and shoots the mayor's daughter, horrifying Lucy and Sejanus. This scene was like a terrible wake up call (as well as what should have been a massive red flag) for Lucy and Sejanus–because, even though everyone was afraid for their lives in the moment that the Mayor’s daughter may sell them out and they could be killed, none of them thought to kill her in order to stop it. The idea of silencing the Mayor’s daughter like that and how quickly he did it should have tipped characters off that Snow was far gone.

• Snow still wants to leave with Lucy at this point and is trying to, which again leaves me wondering if she ever had any plans of leaving with him after what happened. His friend is caught by the capital and hung as a traitor, which Snow allows. Snow mourns and curses the loss of his friend after his death, presumably showing us that he regrets having sold him out, but at this point that’s not enough–we know he did it and he knew that Sejanus would be hanged. I believe this wasn’t done to make us feel sorry for Snow but to show how twisted he was. Lucy is going to leave with Snow till she sees his character more clearly, she doesn’t say any of her observations out loud but we can see them playing out on her face in real time as Snow confesses, “I’ve killed three people I don’t wanna kill anymore.” And Lucy was only aware of two prior to this. When she tells him that she only knows he killed the Mayor’s daughter, to which Snow, while holding a gun, replies somewhat carefully, “Yeah but…you wouldn’t tell anyone.” I thought he might have killed her at that point, but because I knew spoilers from the book and that she lives, I was put at ease. Lucy runs away, leaving the shawl he gave her with a snake in it and Snow returns to the capital assuming his role of status by Doctor Gaul. 

Overall thoughts as a story:

It was a unique story, and a good villain origin though this brings me to the point I made at the beginning–it wasn’t always fun to watch. I obviously don’t believe what Snow concludes with the evil Doctor Gaul at the end of the film, but some of it’s true. Doctor Gaul asks Snow “What are the Hunger Games for?” And by the end of the film he concludes that they are to show people true human nature–remind people what they’re capable of and who they are. Now, the Hunger Games do showcase human nature at some of its worst because it’s kill or be killed. But not everyone could be made to lose all humanity and value for human life even in the Games–Lucy Gray and Katniss are proof of that. However, even Lucy isn’t a bad person, but she doesn’t shake the system. This film has such a poor sampling of people who don’t want to give in to the violence and corruption that it paints a very bleak view of human nature. In regards to plot and pacing the movie was never slow or dull, but there’s very little hope in it. 

• Sejanus hates the Hunger Games, but he speaks out and mistakenly trusts Snow which results in his death.    

• Lucy has hopes that Snow is better than he is but is proven wrong. She doesn’t want to kill anyone in the games or to fight at all but by the end she simply survives and gets away. 

• Peter Dinklage’s character confesses at the end of the film he hates the Hunger Games and that the only reason they exist is because while drinking he made the suggestion of how the capital could punish the districts, and they were evil enough to make it a reality. Snow kills him in the end because he stands in the way.

Basically, the impression one would get leaving this movie is that mankind, when given the opportunity, will do horrible things to survive and the best one could hope to do is try and keep clean hands by completely getting out of the situation. This is a fine premise for a world to be built pre the entrance of the hero–and it is. Because Katniss doesn’t arrive till years later, we’re left with the impression the film leaves. After seeing it, my biggest impression was “They need Katniss.” And that was my prediction prior to seeing it. It wasn’t a love story, like many people were saying–it was a villain origin and the background of a corrupt world reaching it’s worst. If the film did anything in the realm of emotionally moving me, it showed me how far gone a society can get when immorality is legalized as is dehumanization—and that apathy only leads to things being worse. Even the characters who were against it did so in a passive way or made failed attempts to shift the direction of events—it reaffirms what the Hunger Games films show. And that’s the truth that one person condemning a societies acts as evil isn’t enough—everyone needs to rally behind them in order to overcome such deep seeded institutionalized wrongdoings. Let’s put it this way, next I’m reviewing Hunger Games 1. Spoiler, the review will be called “Enter the hero.”