The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015)

Title: The Divergent Series: Insurgent

Year: 2015

Director: Robert Schwentke

Rating: PG-13 for intense violence and action throughout, some sensuality, thematic elements and brief language

Synopsis: The Divergent Series: Insurgent raises the stakes for Tris as she searches for allies and answers in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago. Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) are now fugitives on the run, hunted by Jeanine (Winslet), the leader of the power-hungry Erudite elite. Racing against time, they must find out what Tris’s family sacrificed their lives to protect, and why the Erudite leaders will do anything to stop them. Haunted by her past choices but desperate to protect the ones she loves, Tris, with Four at her side, faces one impossible challenge after another as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the future of their world.

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STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

This movie was way better than I expected. Having read, beforehand, the terrible book this movie is based on, I was expecting to snooze off five minutes into the movie. Yet, the plot was changed, and I was kept wide awake and interested for most of it.

Unlike in the book, the movie's story has a purpose. Jeanine needs a special Divergent – one that has aptitude for all five factions– to open a mysterious box. Unknown by everyone, even Jeanine, is that this box contains the ultimate truth, the answers to all the questions raised by the type of society they live in. Also, information about what is going on outside the fence. And, so begins the hunt for that one Divergent. Following the unspoken rule of YA stories, the protagonist, Tris, is the only person special enough for that task. Even though we know she only has aptitude for three factions. 

Jeanine's divergence continues to shine as she deceives the general public and does everything in her power to turn people against Divergents. During that time, Tris hides. She hides in Amity, Candor, and Dauntless. She even meets the Factionless, who are so in sync, they work as any other faction.

After many people die, Tris turned herlself in, because she had to, obviously. Once Tris gets to Erudite, we get to see the eye-popping simulations the box had to offer. They had too much dubsptep and Inception's-building-destruction for my taste, but the thought behind them, their ultimate goal, casts a fresh view of factions and human values.

I find it hard to belive, in a good way, that I was able to see and understand Tris' inner struggle better by watching an actress, than by reading Tris' thoughts in the book. Kudos to Shailene Woodley for her enactment.  Her performance during the truth serum scene, while she was in Candor, was so good it was difficult to watch. 

There are many things I didn't like about the movie. First, there is a sex scene that is completely out of place. Second, there is no explanation as to why half of Dauntless would betray their faction and follow Jeanine. Third, Tris and Four were conviently saved from tight spots. Thirty trained Dauntless soldiers are firing at Tris, Four, and Caleb but they all miss. Still, Four gets to knock down many Dauntless traitors. Then, Tris, Four, and even Caleb jump on a train, but the Dauntless trained don't even try it. This “luck” continues throughout the movie. It is all too convenient.

Last, but definitely not least, the message inside the box –the one that is supposed to explain everything, to give us the ultimate truth, the message that is supposed to convey meanning and purpose – makes no sense. It is a contradiction in itself. However, people didn't analized it too much because there were only five minutes left to present some visuals of the world and of people rejoicing in this newfound knowledge. The movie then ends on a high note, with every problem “resolved”. It gives a hopeful open ending to the series. Unfortunately, there is another book. I don't know what new problems the author created to extend the story for yet another book.

Of course, we have to rate and review this movie for what it is: a YA story. We can't expect from it what it will never give. Many people have rate this movie poorly because it doesn't have an intricate plot or layers upon layers of character development. This is not a drama, is a YA story. That is like expecting sex on a children's movie or a psycho killer in a romantic comedy. It could happen, but it probably won't.