Dune: Part Two (2024) Film Review

Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the universe, he must prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

Dune: Part II is directed by Denis Villeneuve director of Incendies (2010), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), Sicario (2015), Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Dune (2021) and a few others.

What is there to say about Denis Villeneuve that hasn’t been said already? Villeneuve has quickly become one of the best directors currently working today and Dune (2021) was just one of his many excellent films, it was one of my favorite films from that year and I was very interested to see how Villeneuve would be able to top it…let me tell you he did more than just top it, he made arguably one of the best sequels ever made.

Let’s start with the cast because that’s one of the film’s strongest parts, everyone does a fantastic job here each bring something truly special to the film some of which give career best performances. Timothee Chalamet once again shows he was an excellent choice to play Paul Atreides we get to see his character do a complete turn and it’s quite haunting to see, Chalamet’s powerful and intimidating performance (especially towards the end) only furthers this when he becomes power hungry and it takes over his mind, it’s a huge display of incredibly strong acting that makes Chalamet one of the most interesting actors working today.

Zendaya has a much bigger part in the story this time around and she does an excellent job here, she plays Chani incredibly well and her chemistry with Timothee Chalamet is some of the film’s highlights. There’s so many incredibly moments with Zendaya that truly shows that she is a powerhouse like the little moments of Chani and Paul looking out into the desert which only shows how much bigger this film is in scale (more on that in a bit). Zendaya might not have anything grand in the film, but all of the little moments plus the bigger ones make her performance quite excellent.

Rebecca Ferguson was excellent in Dune (2021) and she is just as excellent here arguably even better, she gives a haunting and powerful performance as Lady Jessica and her interactions with Alia Atreides (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy) is haunting in it’s own right and builds on what is to come in the film, Ferguson is probably my absolute favorite from the film mainly due to just how raw she goes with her performance, especially when the script gives her so much to work with. She takes advantage of every single moment she can to make this performance outstanding.

Austin Butler gives an absolutely insane performance that I truly did not expect coming at all, he plays Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen an absolutely crazy and bloodthirsty fighter, this is definitely a career best performance for Butler who really goes all out and never holds back. There is one particular action scene with Timothee Chalamet and Austin Butler that truly standouts and is quite intense as well. From the atmosphere and tension it truly is a masterwork of a scene. The atmosphere when Butler enters the film is a very noticeable change in a very good way, intimidation sets in and becomes so much more darker as well.

The rest of the cast are phenomenal, Florence Pugh gives a very strong performance as always even if she doesn’t get the most screentime her acting still brings so much to the film. Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Léa Seydoux, Dave Bautista and Christopher Walken are incredibly solid here each of which bring power to the film some of them definitely get more screentime than others but as I said before even when someone is given little screentime in Dune: Part Two they still add so much to the film.

The writing is truly excellent here, there’s so much attention to detail with the script and how it progresses the story as well. It moves at a natural pace and has the atmosphere to back it up, it’s written in this way where it might seem like a regular journey at the beginning but becomes far more darker as it progresses. It explores the world of Dune quite a lot more than the first film and that film did such a good job of exploring it already. But here we get so much more additional information and so many highlights of what makes the world so big, the writing also helps connect these characters and why the viewer should invest in them. The character work is truly incredible, the little moments help build the characters just as much as the big moments do which is truly fascinating.

As I said earlier the scale in this film is far bigger than it was in the first film, that’s mainly due to how much exploration there really is here and of course the visuals which are quite an accomplishment on their own, the sandworms, action scenes and cinematography all combine together to create some of the most visually striking and beautiful visuals ever put to film. Heck even after watching the film I still felt like I didn’t explore everything due to just how much is on screen in so many different moments.

Lastly we have Denis Villeneuve’s direction which is truly outstanding, as I said at the beginning Villeneuve not only made an incredible sequel to Dune (2021) that topped it he made arguably one of the best sequels ever made. Everything he does in this film truly shows excellent he really is in his craft and will go further and beyond to top the previous film. Dune: Part Two really shows how the medium of film is special artists like Villeneuve take you into a world that you never thought you would be so invested in and you eventually feel like you are right there with the characters. Dune: Part Two is truly something incredibly special and very rare, it really does feel like you are watching an event happen before your eyes. If you haven’t already be sure to check this one out.

Dune: Part Two is available in theaters.

B10/10 A+

Spaceman (2024) Film Review

Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, an astronaut, Jakub (Adam Sandler), realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano) works with Jakub to make sense of what went wrong before it is too late.

Spaceman is directed by Johan Renck who has directed Downloading Nancy (2008) but is mostly known for his TV work especially Chernobyl (2019).

Spaceman has Adam Sandler in another more dramatic role which I always felt is where he shines the best and this movie is no exception. What did surprise me about this movie however is the direction they went with, while I certainly don’t think this movie is for everyone and will not work for others I couldn’t help but seriously love what this movie did.

As said earlier Adam Sandler gives such a solid performance here, he plays an astronaut named Jakub who’s all alone which centers around this film’s main theme…loneliness it’s not until we are introduced to a space spider named Hanuš who is voiced by Paul Dano that we see the theme of loneliness come into play. Hanuš is a very empathetic character who talks to Jakub about life and at some points human connections but at the same time Dano’s voice sends chills down the viewer’s spine, its haunting and really reminded me of Ansem and Xemnas both from the video game series Kingdom Hearts.

The supporting cast is also quite great here, I was pretty surprised to see Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory) give a much more heavy and subtle performance which is not seen very often. His character isn’t anything incredible but his performance is enough to leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Carey Mulligan while having a character who really does not have a whole lot going on, it’s her performance that makes it work in the end it does show how incredibly talented Mulligan really is even when she doesn’t have a whole lot to work with.

Max Richter’s score combined with Adam Sandler’s raw performance of him talking about his loneliness and sadness while Paul Dano is talking to him is truly beautiful, it create a very powerful picture that while it is slowly paced but if you are into the story you find yourself completely brought into it. Theres no denying that Spaceman shares a lot of similarities to Ad Astra, Interstellar and even at some points Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind but the movie uses the ideas and manages to make them it’s own. Particularly using Hanuš and Jakob’s discussion as a way to use ideas but do a lot more than just slap them on and call it day, the discussions between the two are incredibly investing and at some points bring a tear to your eye.

Overall Spaceman is not for everyone but if you read the plot and it sounds like something you are into I recommend giving it a go!

Spaceman is available on Netflix.

8/10 B+

I.S.S. (2024) Film Review

Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station when a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth. Soon, the U.S. and Russian astronauts each receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary.

I.S.S. is directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite a director who’s done some genuinely great work such as Blackfish (2013), Megan Leavey (2017) and Our Friend (2019) so it’s a bit sad to see her latest film I.S.S. disappoint.

Granted I do think it has it’s positives, Ariana DeBose gives a strong performance as well as the rest of the cast, there some really good shots here and I think the ideas of the movie are pretty interesting. I will say if you go into this movie expecting a full on thriller like the trailer suggested, prepare to be disappointed because that is not the case here.

Instead you are given more of a dive into the characters, their feelings, actions and so on. It’s a nice slow burn setup that does have an interesting take on the space movie genre, about being careful who you trust especially in such a very limited space. It’s something that could have absolutely worked with much better writing and more interesting characters.

Outside of Ariana DeBose’s character Dr. Kira Foster (even then you could still make the argument her character wasn’t exactly incredibly investing) the rest of the characters really did not have a whole lot going on. Some of the tension that’s built throughout the movie is fine enough sure, but when you have a group of characters who are just not that written very well and have very little personality traits it starts to take away from the whole movie and slowly but surely take the viewer out of the movie.

It’s frustrating because I.S.S. is almost a good movie, the ideas themselves are just far more interesting than the movie and what’s being shown to the viewer, I think with more time in the oven with it’s characters and writing in general this could have made for a solid little movie.

I.S.S. is available in theaters.

5/10 C

The Kitchen (2024) Film Review.

In a dystopian future London where all social housing has been eliminated, Izi and Benji fight to navigate the world as residents of The Kitchen, a community that refuses to abandon their home.

The Kitchen is directed by Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya, the movie being the directorial debut of both.

It’s a shame The Kitchen is getting buried because while it is flawed and does fall into very familiar territory towards the end, I do think it’s incredibly solid showcase of acting and directing.

The cast really does a great job here, Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman in particular really standout and their acting really matches the type of atmosphere the movie is going for. The world building is also quite neat with some attention to detail thrown in there for good measure, the direction from Tavares and Kaluuya is also quite strong the two create such an interesting atmosphere that has a lot of heartfelt moments that capture the viewer’s attention.

As I said earlier the movie does get held back from falling into very familiar territory mostly the “found family” trope which works for the most part in the context of the story, but is a bit underwhelming at the same time. There’s a few ideas that aren’t quite fleshed out but luckily the rest of the movie holds the viewer’s interest especially when it comes to the camerawork that shows a lot of genuinely beautiful shots.

Overall The Kitchen is a decent movie, it’s held back by some missteps but the direction from Kaluuya and Tavares is quite strong both of which show a lot of promise in their directing careers.

The Kitchen is available on Netflix.

6/10 C+

Poor Things (2023) Film Review.

Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Poor Things is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos a director who has constantly shown time and time again that he can deliver some absolutely fascinating films such as Dogtooth (2009), The Lobster (2015), The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017), The Favourite (2018) and a few others. Lanthimos is absolutely one of the best directors working today and he shows that even more with Poor Things.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way that you have probably already have heard by now, but it can’t be understated how incredible Emma Stone’s performance as Bella Baxter. It’s the very definition of a career best performance that is incredibly striking, humorous and truly captivating. Stone’s acting brings so much life to Bella Baxter that truly makes her one of the best written characters from a film this year. This is easily a type of performance that could have easily went wrong in a lot of ways, but the way Stone naturally builds the character from the ground up throughout the film as Bella goes through in evolution is truly fascinating and hits every single note storywise. Bella is a character who easily wins the viewer over the very second she is introduced and want to see her explore the world she’s in as well as wanting her to reach her goals.

Mark Ruffalo who plays Duncan Wedderburn also gives a career best performance, he’s absolutely hysterical and gives so many memorable moments that take his acting talent and combine it with his comedic timing incredibly well. He does such a fantastic job of playing this buffoon who wants to be taken seriously but ends up being hilarious and I mean that in the best way possible because that’s ultimately what Duncan is as a character.

Willem Dafoe and Ramy Youusef are also pretty strong here as well, although Dafoe who plays Dr. Godwin Baxter or “God” is missing through a huge portion of the film he still plays a very important part of the story and is still fantastic. You can never go wrong with having Willem Dafoe in your film and he absolutely feels like a natural fit in Lanthimos’s strange world. Youusef works incredibly well with Willem Dafoe when they are on screen together and actually do have a couple hilarious lines between one another, Youusef is also really charming and fits quite well with the rest of the cast. His character Max McCandles and his bond with Bella is really nice to watch and is actually quite comedic.

The film itself is this unhinged gothic fairytale type Frankenstein story that has so much creativity and imagination all over it, it definitely goes without saying that the film itself is beautiful. The amount of attention to detail is insane, every single frame of this film has this dreamlike look to it that you never want to wake up from due to how fascinating it looks. The film makes you want to explore each and every corner of its world, it’s truly mesmerizing and absolutely captivating to the eye. It’s a beautiful yet haunting world due to some of the creatures we see walking around which is fitting since this is directed by Lanthimos.

Speaking of which Lanthimos has directed some disturbing and quite weird films in the past, Poor Things is definitely on the more weird side of things, it’s much more abstract and the humor is definitely one of the center focuses, but it has everything that Lanthimos’s previous films had. The way Lanthimos tackles many different themes in each of his films is what makes you keep coming back to them and here is no exception. Poor Things has so many metaphors that are about Bella’s self discovery and sexual liberation that we see throughout Bella’s journey and it all ties together to present such a chaotic story that is truly beautiful and absolutely exciting. The way Lanthimos is able to grab the viewer’s attention with Bella’s journey is truly fascinating and manages to do it quite effortlessly. He’s able to do this in the most chaotic ways with tons of sex scenes that really act as character moments of their own, it’s part of how Bella slowly starts to discover herself and what she wants in the world.

I don’t want to say much else, because this is absolutely the type of film that you really need to see for yourself to really get the full impact. But just know that Poor Things is masterfully acted, written and directed. There’s so much layers to this film that I’m sure more people will slowly realize in years to come.

Poor Things is available in theaters.

10/10 A+

Dream Scenario (2023) Film Review

A family man finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. However, when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, he’s forced to navigate the consequences of his newfound stardom.

Dream Scenario is directed by Kristoffer Borgli a director who’s work I’m a bit unfamiliar with but after watching Dream Scenairo really makes me want to look at his previous films because this was definitely a surprise.

I’ve heard a little about this film but really did not know what to expect, I’ll watch pretty much anything Nicolas Cage is in and this turns out to be one of my favorite performances by him. Nicolas Cage absolutely captures the humorous and imaginative atmosphere the film is going for. He even does such a fantastic job with the more emotion bits towards the end which really just shows how easily he can blend in with the atmosphere with each scene. The rest of the cast are quite great as well Julianne Nicholson has great chemistry with Cage, Tim Meadows and Michael Cera are great in the supporting cast.

What I find most interesting about Dream Scenario is how it progresses, it starts out presenting this very silly idea that even explaining this to someone would make them laugh. The idea that Paul Matthews who is played by Nicolas Cage randomly enters your dreams and just stands there is just hilarious. And for the first half of this film that’s exactly what it is, a crazy idea that works so well and it’s genuinely funny. But then the film takes a hammer and smashes the viewer’s heart into pieces with the satire on social media culture and cancel culture.

I was very worried when the film presented this idea, mostly due to how films as of late have tried to tackle cancel culture it’s often done in a way that feels like the writers have no idea what they are talking about or it’s just done in a way that’s incredibly lazy. However Dream Scenario takes a character in this case Paul Matthews who the viewer wants to succeed especially now since he’s getting popular due to appearing in everyone’s dreams and makes him the target. It’s very effective and really shows that blindly going after someone is incredibly idiotic. Despite the sci-fi and fantasy elements this is shockingly quite grounded.

Paul Matthews’s family starts to get effected by the whole situation much like in real life when mobs go after people the family of said person is often targeted as well, it’s a very surprising addition that a lot of films that try to tackle cancel culture often forget so it’s a breath of fresh air to see it being done here. The writing is truly fantastic here, while there are a few bumps in the road during the final act that don’t quite land, that’s not nearly enough to stop the movie from being surprisingly well written and genuinely funny. The moments with Cage interacting with his family are truly some of the best of the film and actually feel quite real.

Overall Dream Scenario is a clever satire that’s well written, humorous and executes its premise very strongly.

Dream Scenario is available on all VOD platforms.

9/10 A

Rebel Moon (2023) Film Review

When a colony on the edge of the galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, they dispatch a young woman with a mysterious past to seek out warriors from neighbouring planets to help them take a stand.

Rebel Moon or Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child Of Fire is directed by Zack Snyder. A film that I’ve been pretty excited about for awhile. This is sort of a passion project for Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad (one of the other writers of the film), it’s very clear the film has a ton of inspirations such as Star Wars, Dune, The Last Samurai and many others. So it’s very disappointing to see just how much of a mess and disjointed the movie is.

Before I start I do want to acknowledge that yes an extended cut is coming out in 2024 similar to Zack Snyder’s Justice League cut. We’ll cross that bridge when the cut releases but for now I’m reviewing the movie as what it is right now. Anyway let’s get to the review.

The performances and the visuals are what pushes the movie to the finish line, Sofia Boutella is a fun protagonist who does give a solid performance and Anthony Hopkins while not getting a lot of screentime still manages to land a touching impression on the viewer. The rest of the cast aren’t particularly noteworthy but none of them turn in a bad performance.

The visuals are fantastic, if it’s one thing that Snyder has always been great at it’s making his films visually appealing and that absolutely applies here. Even if we don’t know much about Rebel Moon’s world it’s truly beautiful and really does make you want to explore the place, it’s huge in scale and the attention to detail in a lot of areas is very creative there’s many striking moments that standout as well.

Unfortunately that’s where Rebel Moon ends for me, the characters on paper are interesting they are very neat looking design wise but don’t have the character development to make the viewer care about them. Something that’s very noticeable here is the characters appear, get to do a couple cool things and then are put aside as characters who stand around until a fight scene starts. This repeats throughout the movie and it’s a huge shame because you want to learn more about these characters but the movie doesn’t give any strong development.

The same can be said with the world building, while yes the world itself is very neat to look at. Once again the movie unfortunately doesn’t give the world the proper development it needs, it really leaves the viewer in the dark a lot of the time and not in a good way, I still do very much like the look of it and It does make you want to explore. But at the same time I want to actually learn about it, it’s all very vague and loses the viewer very quickly.

Finally there’s the villains who are pretty by the numbers, Ed Skrein does a fine enough job in the role. But there’s just nothing here that makes the viewer care about this guy as a villain.

Overall Rebel Moon has its moments but it’s mostly a huge misfire, can this be fixed with the director’s cut? Will the sequel that’s coming out next year be better? I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there, but for now this is a huge mess.

Rebel Moon is available on Netflix.

4/10 D+

Godzilla Minus One (2023) Film Review

Japan is already devastated by the war when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster.

Godzilla Minus One is the 37th film of the franchise, the 33rd Togo Godzilla film and the fifth film in the franchise’s Reiwa era. It’s also directed by Takashi Yamazaki.

Godzilla is a massive franchise that through the years has many different interpretations of the creature, a bunch of which are goofy, some go for a more serious tone. The human characters are often put to the side because let’s face it a majority of the audience is there to see Godzilla cause destruction.

Godzilla Minus One however puts the focus back on the human characters but also making Godzilla the center of the story being told, the film starts in 1945 nearing the end of World War II where we get our first look at Godzilla. Right from the beginning the viewer is greeted with the atmosphere of the film, a dark, scary and thrilling atmosphere that makes Godzilla terrifying. The goofy nature of Godzilla doing a high kick in the air is not present here it truly makes this beast the king of the monsters.

Godzilla has represented a lot of things in this franchise such as a nuclear weapon, in Minus One Godzilla represents a reminder of the destruction from World War II. The film makes this known with a lot of the characters just getting out of the war directly saying “I don’t want to risk losing my life again and not seeing my loved ones” it’s an absolute brutal situation for the characters involved that is only made even better with incredible performances.

The performances here are absolutely incredible especially Ryunosuke Kamiki who plays Koichi and Minami Hamabe who plays Noriko give some of the most powerful moments of the film when on screen together. Another theme this film tackles very effectively is PTSD and someone who wants to rebuild and continue forward, that someone being Koichi a man who is struggling from survivors guilt after his first encounter with Godzilla. He wants to move on to a new chapter in his life but whenever Godzilla reappears and causes more destruction, death and pain to the citizens he thinks back to his first encounter and how he could have prevented these deaths he blames himself for everything. Which leads to quite honestly one of the best moments that portrays somebody suffering from horrible memories I’ve ever seen put to film. It’s hard to watch and truly paints a picture where you almost immediately feel heartbroken for Koichi.

Hidetaka Yoshioka who plays Kenji Noda the crazy scientist character of this film, although may come off as the generic scientist type at first. Really blossoms into his own character and gets a fair amount of scenes that he really steals. Much like the acting, the writing is top notch it’s a much more grounded story of Godzilla than we have seen in the past. The citizens have so much character to them, there’s plenty of scenes where you want everyone here to make it out alive. There’s a scene towards the end where knowing their lives could be put on the line a second time just after coming home from World War II they offer to protect their home and families. It’s such a powerful human connection moment that really puts a tear into your eye it’s truly beautiful.

Godzilla itself is a beast and as said before truly is the king of the monsters especially in Minus One, combine that with the visual effects and the action scenes and you seriously have yourself a beautiful Godzilla film. Godzilla’s design is both beautiful and terrifying, it’s the very definition of a walking nightmare that is hard to take down and gives the characters a challenge. The cinematography really compliments this well with so many gorgeous shots that truly capture the tension of each scene Godzilla strikes, the desperation of when the characters are what they are going to do about Godzilla and the absolute beauty at the end of the tunnel during the film’s final moments which almost made me cry.

Overall Godzilla Minus One is one of the best films of the franchise and is truly one of the best films of the year. Narratively it may seem simple on the surface but once you go into the film’s themes there is so much here that the film completely mastered.

Godzilla Minus One is playing in theaters.

10/10 A+

The Creator (2023) Film Review

Against the backdrop of a war between humans and robots with artificial intelligence, a former soldier finds the secret weapon, a robot in the form of a young child.

The Creator is directed by Gareth Edwards director of Godzilla (2014), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Monsters (2010).

Gareth Edwards is a filmmaker I’ve always rooted for, even when films like Rogue One don’t fully come together you can really tell that Edwards has a passion for what he does and the worlds he is trying to build. His most successful by far is Godzilla (2014) a film that did not work for me when it first came out but has since really grown on me and now I’m a huge fan of it.

So it’s disappointing to see how messy The Creator really is, don’t get me wrong it’s nowhere near a terrible movie there was clearly a lot of passion put into it design, filming and idea wise. However when it comes from a writing perspective there is so much more to be desired and honestly feels really empty.

The best part of the movie by far is the visuals, there is absolutely no doubt that the movie itself is beautiful to look at. There are truly some breathtaking moments that absolutely must be seen to be believed, it’s an achievement that should not be ignored at all there’s tons of beautiful set pieces that truly pop out and tell their own story quite well. Combine that with the cinematography that shows off some beautiful shots and you have yourself a visually beautiful film.

The performances from John David Washington, Gemma Chan and the rest of the cast are solid enough, they aren’t anything groundbreaking but they match the atmosphere the movie is going for which does lead to some genuinely touching moments between the characters.

Unfortunately that’s where the positives stop because the writing really drags this one down, ideas are mentioned but not explored nearly enough to get the viewer engaged, we have some really neat characters but we don’t know much about them. It’s a common problem that happens throughout the movie and really never goes away, we are told or shown some neat ideas, character arcs and development but we are never shown any execution or actual development to fully get on board.

Gareth Edwards clearly wanted to say something with a lot more substance here, but it just never fully came out and instead mirrors a lot of what other AI taking over the world type of movies have said before.

The Creator is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

The Hunger Games: Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) Film Review.

Years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow remains the last hope for his fading lineage. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow becomes alarmed when he’s assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird from District 12. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and political savvy, they race against time to ultimately reveal who’s a songbird and who’s a snake.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes is a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012) and is the fifth installment to the series.

The Hunger Games series was the only young adult dystopian series back in the 2010s that I actually really liked and perhaps the only one to go on and still have a huge amount of relevancy.The series did have it’s issues with Mockingjay Part One (2014) being the weakest of the films and Mockingjay Part Two (2015) while not being a bad film still felt a bit rushed and not quite up to the quality of The Hunger Games (2012) or Catching Fire (2013). So it was quite interesting to see a prequel be released 8 years later, we have seen how badly prequels can be with very popular book film adaptions. The Fantastic Beasts series simply does not compare to the Harry Potter films and The Hobbit movies (I understand there’s a fanbase for these movies I was just not a fan of them at all) are completely outclassed by The Lord Of The Rings films.

Luckily Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes ends up being quite shockingly fantastic with several contributing factors. Let’s get the obvious out of the way that everyone seems to be talking about the most…the performances. The acting has always been quite strong in The Hunger Games films but in Songbirds & Snakes they kick it up a notch and the cast really delivers in their respective role.

Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow is both fascinating and terrifying we get to see him slowly but surely turn into the man he goes on to be for the rest of the series. We get a very interesting backstory that is filled with many dramatic and character moments that are incredibly investing, it’s some really surprising character work combined with Blyth’s acting that really makes his performance stand out in every single way possible.

Rachel Zegler once again hits it out of the park and really shows how talented she is as an actress, Zegler plays Lucy Gray which admittedly was some big shoes to fill since everyone compares the importance of the character to Katniss Evergreen who was played by Jennifer Lawrence in the 4 sequels. However Zegler really stands out here on her own, much like Blyth’s performance Zegler gets a lot of character moments to really make her shine. The songs she sings are beautiful and really contribute to the film’s atmosphere (something I will get into a bit later), Lucy Gray is such a fascinating character that the viewer still has many questions about even when the film ends, the film manages to tell the viewer the information they need about Lucy Gray but keeps just enough from the viewer to wonder about her.

The rest of the cast are just as fantastic, Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul is intimidating and really sets the scene as soon as she comes on screen. Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom and Josh Andreas Rivera and Sejanus Plinth are both fantastic. Jason Schwartzman who plays Lucretius or “Lucky” Flickerman who is basically the announcer of The Hunger Games, he gives such a darkly (I say darkly because the games themselves are brutal here) funny performance that doesn’t overshadow the character moments at all. Finally there’s Hunter Schafer who might not get a whole lot of screentime but delivers such a charming and incredibly likable performance that her being casted as Tigris Snow was such a smart casting move.

The atmosphere of the film is truly brilliant, something a lot of these young adult dystopian adaption films seem to forget is atmosphere the type where you actually believe this is a very horrifying future and Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes absolutely nails that down from the very beginning. You can feel the fear of the characters and just how incredibly messed up the future has become, when you combine that with the writing that is quite honestly some of if not THE very best this franchise has very had. You have yourself such an engaging story that really pulls out everything it has.

The world building is truly fascinating here, for a prequel the film really expands on the world of The Hunger Games and even makes some really important connections from the films that would come later, each of the film’s locations has personality too them and a story to tell. Which the film does beautifully with the cinematography, character moments and the pacing which while could be a bit much for some (157 minutes long) I however do think the pacing really uses the running time quite well to give each of the characters time to shine and really highlight how dangerous the world is.

Finally there’s The Hunger Games itself and it’s quite a brutal one. The film really makes the most use it can with the PG-13 rating and it ultimately works, there’s tons of emotional moments during the games as well as character bits that are actually gut punching at times. Sure the games might be a bit shorter this time around, however it makes up for that with very suspenseful atmosphere as well as being incredibly strong from a story perspective and thematically.

Overall The Hunger Games: Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes is one of the best films of the franchise, heck there’s even an argument to be made that it’s the absolute best of the series. It’s one of those rare prequels that actually adds something special to the franchise and explores even more that the other films really didn’t. I cannot stress enough how fantastic the acting really is here, it’s some of the best acting of the year and completely matches everything that the film goes for.

The Hunger Games: Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes is available in theaters.

10/10 A+