The Divergent Series: Allegiant Review

     If you've followed this blog at all since its creation, you'd know I don't like reviewing bad movies, and there are two main reasons behind this. First off I don't like to waste my money or time to go see a movie that I know will be bad in theaters. Why would I spend ten dollars and two hours watching a movie that I know will be terrible? I rather stay at home and watch a movie I actually enjoy. Secondly, I don't like to tear apart a person's work. Even if it is the worst movie ever made, a lot of time and money and effort went into making it. Writers, directors, actors, producers, and the various technicians work their asses off to make these movies and to be honest I feel bad when I say that everything they worked for just culminated in something terrible. So while I don't like to review bad movies I still do it occasionally, more often than not for movies that I truly hated. And again, if you have followed this blog at all over the past few years, you'd know that I hate the "Divergent" series. Based off the novels of the same name, a new one of these movies has been cranked out each year since 2014; with a fourth and final movie expected for 2017. So every year I plot some time out to review the latest film in this franchise, and thus far each has been terrible. And with the third movie in this lackluster franchise, "Allegiant" follows in the footsteps of those that came before it.

     Taking place immediately after the events of "Insurgent," the city of Chicago is in disarray. The class system has fallen, with a few key figures left fighting for control. For a short time the city walls were opened but were quickly shut again for fear of what is outside the walls. Wanting to see what the rest of the world is like, Tris and a small group of friends manage to escape. But after traveling only a few miles outside the city, they come up a holographic wall hiding the people that live outside of Chicago. Claiming to be friendly, Tris and her friends are taken back to their base. There they learn how the world ended, and that Chicago was basically a science experiment to see if mankind could heal itself. Tris then meets the leader of this group that claims the cure for humanity is in her DNA, and that with it they can save the world. Tris agrees, but her boyfriend Four is unsure. And once they dig deep, they discover everything is not as it seems.

     Based off its predecessors and early reviews, going into this movie I knew that it was going to bad; little did I know how bad it was actually going to be. Let's go ahead and get the pros out of the way because they are few and far between. There are a few decent performances in "Allegiant," you can tell Shailene Woodley, Jeff Daniels, and a few others actually tried. They aren't good, but they at least get a participation ribbon. Now for the bad, of which there is a lot. Still talking about performances, almost everyone else completely phones it in. Many of the actors just looked like they didn't even want to be there. One of the saving graces of the previous movies was the fact that the plot was at least an interesting idea. But with the third installment the plot has shifted far away from what it was into complete nonsense. The story is surprisingly confusing; at almost no point did I know what was happening. But at the same time everything was rather predictable and full of clichés. While watching it everything played out how you'd expect it to. Like the previous movies, "Allegiant" doesn't know how to have good action scenes. They are boring and uninspired; filled with too much bad CGI. Also like the previous movies, the writing and the dialog are just terrible; with more than a few lines being down right cringe worthy. I'm not sure if this is because of the books or the screenwriters wither way the writing is laughably bad. And for some reason they still put a lot of emphasis on a love story that no one cares about. The two leads have no chemistry together, and every time they're on screen together I rolled my eyes. One thing I don't often say about movies is that the director did a bad job, because the director really has to screw up to do a noticeably bad job. But director Robert Schwentke did just that. From the opening scene meant to recap what happened in the previous movie to the very abrupt ending, this movie is a mess the entire time. On top of that, they even messed up the cinematography, which on more than a few occasions is weird and off putting. During one scene featuring nothing more than a conversation, what should have been a still shot was moving about for no reason and was completely distracting. They even had the audacity to include some truly horrendous and unnecessary slow-mo shots. By what I'm assuming was only possible through some kind of black magic, "Allegiant" manages to be the worst movie in a truly terrible series. There is no reason to go see this boring mess of a movie that felt three hours long. If I hadn't seen this movie with a friend who shares the same disdain for this series as I do, it would have been unbearable. If you're looking to go to the theater anytime soon, for all that is good and merciful, see anything but this pile of garbage. If I had to find a silver lining for seeing "Allegiant," it would be that I found a serious contender for my "worst of the year" list. 

Pros: A few decent performances.

Cons: Confusing but predictable plot, several phoned in performances, boring action scenes, too much bad CGI, terrible writing and dialog, bad directing, weird and off putting cinematography, still don't care about the love story, very abrupt ending, overall boring.

1/5 Stars