Divergent

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. I can see why “Divergent” has a legion of fans, but I’m not big on this movie. It’s got promise, I’ll grant it that, but with other better and very similar stories out there, this execution just doesn’t cut it for me.

It’s “1984” meets “Harry Potter”! Chicago is the only city that remains after a devastating war. Society is divided into five factions: Abnegation (humble people who are in charge of governing the society and ensuring everyone has enough to eat), Amity (farmers), Candor (judges and lawmakers, known for their brutal honesty), Dauntless (the thrill-seeking, bungee-jumping tattoo-clad police and army) and Erudite (the scientists) When it comes time for Beatrice (Shailene Woodley) to take a psychological test and determine which faction she will spend the rest of her life in, they come back inconclusive. Rather than expose herself as “Divergent”, she chooses Dauntless. There she begins unearthing a massive conspiracy to overtake the government.

From the first frame, I had a problem with the film because it doesn’t do a good job selling you on the society. Everyone’s stuck in the same line of work from the age of sixteen to the day they die? Anyone who doesn’t get sorted into one of the houses is doomed to remain homeless forever? You’re expected to forget your friends and family the instant you choose to be from any faction other than the one you were born in? It doesn’t sit well with me, and not in a “this society seems like it may not be utopian” kind of thing. All of those questionable aspects and the fact that, and everyone is forced to wear certain colours to show which group they belong to. Tough luck if you like purple because it’s a forbidden colour! I can see this setup working in say… a novel where they allow you to piece together what the world would look like and the strangeness of it all is something you slowly get used to chapter after chapter. It’s been done before. Look at “Brave New World” where all sorts of bizarre things are going on. Here though, you don’t get the sense that it’s been happening for hundreds of years, not from the reactions that everyone gives when they explain to each other how the society works. It’s just a partially wrecked Chicago, encircled by a wall that’s supposed to… do what exactly? Inside, everyone is acting like they’re trying out some weird game that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Assuming you get past this and you don’t question the fact that the army and police run around like lunatics getting daily tattoos, you’ll be able to appreciate the performances from Shailene Woodley and Theo James (who plays a fellow Dauntless named Four) A lot of these young adult series have a romance crow-barred in and actually, I like this one quite a bit. Beatrice (who renames herself as “Tris” once in Dauntless. Personally I would have gone with “Skeletron”) gets a good chunk of character development and you like her. There’s good drama here since she’s vulnerable in more ways than one and they don’t rush anything between her and Four. I thought the way their first kiss was handled was done very well and intelligently. There’s one particular moment that stood out for me. I don’t want to give too much away, but there’s one specific confrontation where Tris tells Four how she feels about the two of them that’s very well done. I think her concerns and fears echo that of a lot of young women. You don’t often see that kind of honesty in a romantic movie, never mind an action sci-fi story.

I have another major issue with the film. It’s with the villains’ actions and plan. It just seems to me that even if they managed to pull off their scheme, there’s no way they would get away with it. It’s also really easy to figure out who the bad guys are. You might as well have a giant “Guilty! ” sign as soon as they show up. Overall the plot is predictable and the end of this first chapter confused me. The actions of these characters seem completely illogical considering what they just went through. Perhaps I’m nitpicking (I don’t think so) but one of the major reasons I found so many problems in “Divergent” is because everything it does wrong I’ve seen done right elsewhere. “Harry Potter” has a rich world and you believe the different factions. “Hunger Games” has the female heroine that comes from humble origins that gradually grows more confident. We’ve seen the dystopian society thing done time and time again, everywhere from “Handmaid’s Tale” to “Snowpiercer”.

I suspect that if I hadn’t seen other films with similar themes to “Divergent” I would have enjoyed it a lot more, which is the reason why it went on to gross nearly $290 million. Yeah I’m calling you out on this. I can’t say what the books are like, but this movie is not all that special. It’s got some great elements in the character development of our heroine and solid performances, but what surrounds those… it’s generic and you can see it all from far away. There are two sequels out now, with more to come so there’s room for improvement. It’s not inconceivable to me that this will be humble beginnings to an entertaining franchise. If the sequels get better, I’ll be able to recommend “Divergent” but on it’s own, not quite. (On Blu-ray, March 30, 2016)