Plot
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.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 7.6/10 (6,785 voted)
Director:Neil Burger
Storyline
Set in a futuristic dystopia where society is divided into five factions that each represent a different virtue, teenagers have to decide if they want to stay in their faction or switch to another - for the rest of their lives. Tris Prior makes a choice that surprises everyone. Then Tris and her fellow faction-members have to live through a highly competitive initiation process to live out the choice they have made. They must undergo extreme physical and intense psychological tests, that transform them all. But Tris has a secret that she is Divergent, which means she doesn't fit into any one group. If anyone knew, it would mean a certain death. As she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, this secret might help her save the people she loves... or it might destroy her.
Trivia: Miles Teller originally auditioned for the role of Four, but was told that he wasn't going to be getting the role. Months later, the producers watched The Spectacular Now (2013), and were so impressed that they called Teller and offered him the role of Eric, who is supposed to be at odds and intimidating towards the character Four. Teller turned it down because he felt that he wouldn't be able to pull off being intimidating towards Theo James. He was then offered the role of Peter, which he accepted after his friend and former co-star Shailene Woodley sent him a text asking him to accept the role so they could work together again. See more »
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User Review
Author:
Rating: 5/10
Every studio hopes for a hit YA franchise, and in particular for
Lionsgate-owned Summit Entertainment, the imperative is even stronger
seeing as how they had unearthed that lucrative segment with the
'Twilight' series. And so 'Divergent' comes with high hopes that not
only will it become hit YA property, it could potentially enjoy the
same astronomical success as 'The Hunger Games', especially since both
are of the sci-fi genre set in a post-apocalyptic world with fresh
young faces.
Adapted from Veronica Roth's book, it imagines a dystopia where society
is organised into five distinct factions based on personality types,
each understanding and playing its role in order to keep the peace.
These are Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless and Erudite, the names
rather self-explanatory in describing what they represent. Youths are
tested at the age of 16, given two likeliest factions from the results
of a hallucinatory test, and then at a Choosing Day ceremony made to
pick one of the two in which they choose to belong.
As narrated by our lead character Beatrice Prior (The Descendants'
Shailene Woodley), there are those fit into more than two categories
which are labelled 'divergents' and cast out to live as homeless
vagabonds on the pretense that they do not belong. Needless to say,
Beatrice is a titular 'divergent', and warned by her testor (Maggie Q)
that she must keep this information secret lest she be the subject of a
witchhunt led by the leader of the snobbish Erudite faction Jeanine
Matthews (Kate Winslet). So at her ceremony, unlike all the others, she
exercises her free will to join the Dauntless, who train to be soldiers
keeping the peace.
Even with the task of laying franchise groundwork, it is both
surprising and disappointing how much time the movie spends inside the
subterranean Pit where Tris and the rest of her initiates train under
the tough yet tender Instructor Four (Theo James) and the harsh and
controlling leader Eric (Jai Courtney). From sparring to knife throwing
to shooting, screen writers Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor spend
about an hour laying out Tris' Dauntless boot-camp training and the
dynamics between the trainees, in particular with two Candors - one a
snide competitor played by Miles Teller and the other a loyal friend
played by Zoe Kravitz.
There is of course the budding romance between Tris and Instructor
Four, the latter of which turns out to be a 'divergent' himself and who
ends up teaching her how to overcome the final 'fear test' of her
training. At no point however does director Neil Burger inject a sense
of urgency into the proceedings, which unfold relatively unhurried and
without consequence until the final half-hour. It is at best a drag, at
worst a bore, and while parallels have been drawn between Tris'
training and Katniss Everdeen's in 'The Hunger Games', you'll find the
former here oddly devoid of danger or purpose.
Only in the last segment is there some measure of thrill as a power
struggle between the Erudites and the Abnegations build up into real
conflict unfolding on the streets of an already war-ravaged Chicago.
Burger assumes that his audience's patience will eventually pay off in
a rushed final act that throws everything it can into the mix -
including some heavy urban warfare, exposition, shifts in character -
but it is a peculiar case of 'too much too late' that ends up making
you frustrated more than anything else. There is little poignancy even
with two key supporting characters meeting their demises within the
short span of ten minutes, and that is also a result of the film's
flawed construct, which diminishes the familial bonds illustrated in
the novel between Tris and her parents (Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd)
and twin brother (Ansel Elgort).
With little chance to flex her acting muscles, Woodley is hardly any
match for Jennifer Lawrence, and indeed doesn't quite grasp her
character well enough to put forth a consistent and compelling portrait
of Beatrice. At least she does share some screen chemistry with
Underworld: Awakening's Theo James, the bond that builds slowly between
them rather winning to say the least. Other thespians like Winslet and
Judd give solid supporting turns, though they are yet again hemmed in
by a ham-fisted script that hews too closely to the book's
straightforward prose.
On his part, Burger tries his best to build a convincing vision of a
futuristic Chicago, but fails to convey the extent of a hyper-
militarized and technologically advanced society on the verge of
factional conflict. The postwar cityscape hardly leaves much of an
impression, though the drug-induced mind trips that Beatrice takes
boasts some degree of visual ingenuity that recalls Burger's far
superior work in 'The Illusionist' and 'Limitless'. Worthy of special
mention though is the score by Junkie XL (with Hans Zimmer listed as
executive music producer), which hits the right notes more than you
would expect in certain scenes.
Still, it's hard to imagine 'Divergent' being the kickstarter the way
the first 'Hunger Games' movie was; though both share similar narrative
blueprints, this adaptation feels inert where the latter is lively,
failing to engage its audience with its female teenage protagonist's
rite of passage. Unless you're a fan of the books, you'll probably be
lukewarm about the next instalment 'Insurgent' whose production is
already underway; indeed, true to its title, there is something off
about 'Divergent' that never quite reconciles even till the end of the
movie.
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