Divergent - Review

Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate

Release: 4th of April, 2014

Director: Neil Burger

Duration: 139 minutes

Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Maggie Q, Ansel Elgort. (more information)

Synopsis: In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late. (IMDb)

Genres: Adventure | Romance | Sci-Fi

What We Thought?

Below are both Joe's thoughts and Kerry's thoughts, their overall numbers are out of 5.

Joe thought...

I think having read Divergent before going to watch it at the cinema was a bad move on my behalf, and I should've known that it would never have worked out--it never does.

I felt like the entire film was just a really long commercial for Ellie Goulding's new album, and she'd probably name it "A Song, for Any Occasion". In the end I had to look it up how many Ellie Goulding songs there actually were, and there weren't as many as I'd thought.

As a book this was a GREAT book... as a film, they got most of their praise for casting Theo James as Four. If I was judging this based on a film itself, then it's a great premise; I love the different factions and I loved some of their casting choices, Maggie Q being my favourite as Tori, and when I was reading Divergent I could imagine Kate Winslet as Jeanine.

Putting this out there: I think it's odd that Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, who play siblings in this series, are also going to be playing love interests in John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars", it feels weird to me as a viewer to see this, especially when both of these films are releasing within months of each other. Surely other viewers are going to get weirded out.

Leave a comment with your thoughts.

...why I gave this film THREE out of FIVE.

Mainly because I felt like the the film was made for the teen girls and those mothers that just want to see a hot guy they can swoon over, and yeah, granted that was part of the reason I went, not because I wanted to see this book as a film, and honestly, it didn't really affect me much after I'd watched the film. I would probably watch a sequel--which there will be, after all, they made a lot of money on this film.

Kerry thought...

Unlike Joe, I hadn't read Divergent before I watched the film, but I was still looking forward to it; I love Fantasy films and the freedom a dystopian setting can give to a story. Sadly, I found that this film left me disappointed and a little confused, but at least I had Ellie Goulding songs stuck in my head for the rest of the day to sooth me!

As someone not familiar with the Divergent books, there were several aspects of the film that to me felt rushed or not properly explored. Firstly, I expected to learn a lot more about what it meant to be 'Divergent' and perhaps meet more characters that were 'Divergent' and so was disappointed when a lot of the film took place in one of the 5 'factions'. I still don't really know or understand what 'Divergent' means or how you become it, I have so many unanswered questions that I feel should have been answered, and for that I feel let down.

Secondly, I felt the love story between Tris and Four was poorly executed, very rushed and very sudden. I felt no chemistry between the two actors and if I didn't know that part of the storyline was for them to get together, then I would have been surprised by their first kiss. When I watch a romance develop I want to will the couple to get together then stay together, and if I'm honest Tris and Four's romance didn't even develop, it just happened.

For all my criticism, I didn't actually hate the film and I definitely didn't get bored. The action scenes were exciting and suspenseful, particularly at the beginning, and some of the ideas are really interesting; the factions and the politics behind them and the way that people are tested. Although I didn't particularly rate Shailene Woodley's performance, I did think the film had a good cast of supporting actors. I enjoyed Maggie Q as Tori and definitely enjoyed looking at Theo James as Four. Kate Winslet was sublime as always, stealing every scene she was in and doing a great job of playing the intimidating and ruthless Jeanine.

...why I gave this film TWO out of FIVE.

Great action scenes, a good basic idea and some good supporting actors make up in part for a script lacking in substance and explanations and a wooden lead actress. It definitely wasn't the worst film I've seen this year and it kept me interested throughout and most importantly it did make me want to watch the sequel when it comes out next year - here's hoping that will answer some of my questions and change my mind about the series!

Trailer...

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