With The Hunger Games coming to a close soon, people are looking for the next big YA franchise. They failed with Mortal Instruments. They failed with Beautiful Creatures. So now Lionsgate has bought the rights to Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, the first one being released this weekend. So how was the movie? Well... it's better than both Mortal Instruments and Beautiful Creatures. Not that that's saying much.
I haven't read the books yet. However, I read a plot summary of the whole trilogy on Wikipedia so I have a basic idea of what happens.
Divergent takes place in a futuristic Chicago where society is divided into five factions- Abnegation (selfless), Erudite (intelligence), Dauntless (bravery), Candor (honesty), and Amity (peaceful). During their teen years, people take a test to determine what faction they should belong to. They can choose to remain in the faction they were born into or they can transfer to another. But if they choose to transfer, they can never go back.
Sixteen year old Beatrice 'Tris' Prior (Shailene Woodley) was born into Abnegation but never quite fit in. Much to the surprise of her family, Tris chooses to transfer to Dauntless. She's also hiding something from everyone- her test revealed that she's actually Divergent, which means she doesn't fit in to just one faction. Divergents are considered a threat to society because they can't be controlled. Tris tries to fit into Dauntless, undergoing rigorous training and tests. One of her instructors is the mysterious Four (Theo James). Yes, that's actually what his character is called. To be fair they do explain the meaning behind the name later on. During all this, there's also a rising conflict that threatens to tear this so called "peaceful" society apart.
The movie is directed by Neil Burger, who's previous work includes Limitless and The Illusionist. One of the things I liked about what he did was that he took the time to explain the whole factions idea. The whole reasoning behind why they want the society this way is a bit confusing, but at least he tried. It's not really his fault anyway. I think the author of the books is to blame.
What I didn't like about the movie was, with the exception of a few scenes, how cheap everything looked. Not just the visual effects but the costumes, sets, etc. They supposedly had an 80 million dollar budget. What the hell did they do with all that money?
I'm usually a big fan of music scores, but I just didn't like the one for this. It was really cheesy at times, especially during the so called romantic scenes.
The acting was decent enough. Shailene Woodley and Theo James were pretty good as Tris and Four ,although they wouldn't have been my first choice. Their dialog was terrible and predictable though. Kate Winslet is in this, for all of about fifteen minutes, as Jeanine- the leader of the society and the story's main villain. She's way too good of an actress to be in a movie like this.
Don't even bother seeing this in IMAX since it doesn't add anything to the experience. If you really want to see this in theaters (although I strongly suggest you just wait until it comes out on DVD/Blu Ray) save yourself some money and see it on a regular screen.
I have a feeling Divergent will do well at the box office. Certainly enough for them to officially green light the two sequels. Which I'll admit, I'll probably watch. But I'm sorry, there's no way this is going to be the next Hunger Games. With Hunger Games I remember walking out of the theater going "Wow that was amazing! I can't wait to watch it again." I just didn't get that with Divergent. It had some interesting ideas but it was not well executed.
My Rating: 6.5/10
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