Tom Blyth stars as young Coriolanus Snow, charged with mentoring Rachel Zegler’s District 12 Tribute in this earlier chapter of the $2.9 billion franchise, also featuring Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman and Viola Davis.

It’s hard to build much intrigue into whether a love-struck teen with a seemingly gentle heart and firm moral compass will betray those who trust him and cross over to the dark side when his name is Coriolanus Snow and we know from four previous films that he will grow up to be an evil overlord played with chilling authority by Donald Sutherland. Even less so once he joins the fascistic “Peacekeeper” ranks and trades his floppy blond locks for a Hitler Youth buzz cut.

Beyond the fact that Collins penned a 2020 follow-up set 64 years before the events of the original book trilogy, and of course the market reality that Hollywood never met a dystopian cash cow it couldn’t milk to death, there are few compelling reasons for the new installment to exist.

The main takeaway from The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is the realization that a critical element of what made the four previous Hunger Games films enjoyable — even the concluding entry, unrewardingly stretched over two parts — was the natural pluck and charisma of Jennifer Lawrence. Her Katniss Everdeen was someone to root for, not to mention something of a rarity at the time in terms of resourceful female action heroes whose battle smarts never crush their humanity.

An underdog from District 12, the impoverished coal-mining sector of fictional North American autocracy Panem, Katniss brought formidable archery skills honed while hunting to put food on the family table. But she became just as notable for her compassion, conveyed in the first film by her alliance with Amandla Stenberg’s preteen Rue and her grief over the latter’s death. There’s arguably been no more affecting moment in the series than Katniss showing her love and respect by spreading flowers over the dead girl’s body. If only this bloated prequel had a scene or two with even a fraction of that emotional power.

As Lucy Gray Baird, Katniss’ District 12 counterpart in the 10th annual Hunger Games, West Side Story discovery Rachel Zegler is feisty and appealing, pointedly summoning echoes of Katniss with a defiant curtsy at The Reaping, the ceremony during which two involuntary “Tributes” are chosen from each district to compete in the games by the oppressive Capitol that rules Panem.

Like other students from well-heeled families in the Capitol, Coriolanus is required to mentor a Tribute through the training and promotion period and then the contest itself, where viewer sponsorship determines the amount of survival provisions that can be sent via drones to the mentees.

But unlike most of his mentor colleagues, Coriolanus has a lot at stake. His once-elevated family has fallen on hard times since the death of his father in the long war sparked by the uprising of the districts against the Capitol. As the sole remaining breadwinner, he needs the Plinth Prize cash awarded to the winning mentor in order to keep his Grandma’am (Fionnula Flanagan) and his cousin, the future Hunger Games stylist Tigris (Hunter Schafer), above the poverty line.

The 10th games are also a turning point in the gladiatorial event overseen by the heartless Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Davis). Audience interest has been waning, so Dr. Gaul has figured out ways to up the stakes and increase involvement, including the use of mutant creatures bred in her lab, notably a massive canister of venomous iridescent snakes. The parallels between this sci-fi version of sensationalized entertainment and contemporary ratings battles are emphasized in Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt’s adapted screenplay.