In 2008, the best selling teen novel
"Twilight" was turned into a feature length film; while the reception from
critics and a number of people was lack-luster a best, the movie was a box
office smash and pleased most fans of the book. They proceeded to turn the
other two novels into three more movies that made a combined few billion
dollars; and ever since people have been looking for the next teen novel series
to turn into hit movies like "Twilight" or the grand daddy of this
little movement "Harry Potter." We've seen books like "The
Hunger Games" make a very successful transition, and others like
"Mortal Instruments" crash and burn. Next up on the chopping block is
the first installment in the bestselling book series "Divergent."
Personally, I have not read any of the books so I can't make a comparison to
the source material; but I have heard good things about the first installment
in the series. After a lot of hype and build up the first in the expected
trilogy has arrived, and after watching it I wish I had seen "Muppets Most
Wanted" instead.
"Divergent"
takes place quite a ways in the future, where a catastrophic war has seemed to
wipe out most of the civilized world. The only standing civilization is
referred to as the city, and is surrounded by a giant fence made to protect its
people. In the city, people are placed into one of five factions based on their
personalities; your faction determines your place in society: layer, intellect,
warrior, farmer, or bureaucrat. If you fit into none of them, you are referred
to as factionless and are labeled as an outcast. Our story follows Beatrice, a
young woman born into the bureaucratic life but is eager to escape. The day
comes where she is to take the test that will tell her what she is to be, but
something goes wrong. The test was inconclusive, and the only explanation is
that she is what they call divergent; a state of mind characterized by free
thinking that doesn't fit into a faction. The problem is that the government
hates divergents because they threaten the system, so they usually end up in a
shallow grave somewhere. Beatrice's only option is to hide it, but this means
that she can pick any faction and really be at home. During the choosing
ceremony, to the dismay of her parents who are bureaucrats, she chooses the
warrior faction. She is scared, and is worried that one wrong step will result
in her death; her only option is to believe in herself and overcome her fear.
So she accepts her new life, and is excited to find her place in society.
I'm not going to
sugarcoat is, "Divergent" isn't a very good movie in any aspect; and to
a certain extent, it was almost painful to watch. Like a said earlier, I
haven't read the book; but if the writing in the book is the same as the movie,
I'll make sure to stay away. The writing and dialog is mediocre at best, and
feels like generic sci-fi/futuristic stuff that you'll see in a number of
movies. The movie is also filled with several uninteresting and generic
characters, no one stands out. And the only good performance in the whole bunch
is from lead actress Shailene Woodley, unfortunately even her character is a
rather cookie-cutter heroin and is bogged down by a love story you don't care
about. This movie was marketed as an action movie, but it is filled with some
of the most unimpressive and uninspired action sequences in recent memory.
While there are ton of things wrong with this movie, there is one that stands
out above the rest; it's boring. I remember looking at my watch after thirty
minutes and saying "crap, this movie is over two hours long." I don't
think I've ever looked at my watch so many times in a movie, hoping it was
almost over. The build up to the meat of the story is so slow, and the movie is
also much longer than it needed to be; they could have cut 25-30 minutes, easy.
There's nothing worse a movie can do than be boring, and unfortunately this is
the most bored I've been in a movie for quite some time. It really is a shame,
the concept of the movie is interesting and there were a few entertaining
sequences throughout. Unfortunately, I don't think anything could have saved this
movie. For all I know, the books could be good and just don't translate well to
the silver screen; but even so, at the end of the day "Divergent" is
just another bland movie meant to get teenagers in the seats.
Pros: Good performance by Shailene Woodley,
interesting concept, a few entertaining sequences.
Cons: Mediocre writing, much longer than
necessary, slow and tedious build up, unimpressive action sequences,
uninteresting characters, it's just plain boring.
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