Its strange to think that I have lived through such a big moment within the film industry. From 2009 to 2018, YA literature and its subsequent movies have exploded Into a cultural phenomenon and have replaced high school movies as the knew standard for movie aimed at teenagers. However it has appeared as though each subsequent movie is filled with the same cliches and predictable plot point. None more so then the Divergent Series.
A young heroine lives in a science fiction dystopia where everyone is placed in one of four factions representing one of five personality trates. Peaceful, intelligent, brave, honest and selfless. Our lead Trish (Shailene Woodley) feels unsatisfied being of the selfless and on her choosing day discovered she is a divergent, someone who fits into more then one group. knowing this she chooses to be one of the brave and rises through to the top of her class before uncovering a conspiracy to eliminate the selfless faction she comes from.
There is so little plot that I don't know if I could add. A simple plot is not a bad thing, Hunger Games has a simple plot, Disney movies have simple plots but the difference is almost none of its other miscellaneous elements really build up to anything in the movie.
Its world is a Hunger games rip off which forces us to ask increasingly frustrating questions, let us go through them. Why are there only five factions? If the brave are the soldiers, smart are scientists and peaceful are farmers what do the others do? The selfless appear to be charity workers and the honest lawyers. Why in a post apocalyptic world do you have lawyers and charity workers? everyone who doesn't fit into a faction lives homeless, in a dystopian world why are they letting 100's of able bodies lay around with nothing to do? Why do they bother giving them a test to determine their roles in society if you then let them choose? Trish is the first person to stand up and pass the first brave test. why is she the first person to do so when among her group are people born into the brave faction, that probably know its just a test, why don't they go first? Why do they burn the cloths of there previous faction when you join a new one if they live in a post apocalyptic world who makes there cloths? Are the scientist making cloths? NO! then who? You know this is a slog of a movie when these were my thoughts not even 20 minutes in.
The movie contains some infamously pandering moments to the female demographic namely that the movie is essentially about how one teenage girl that you (teenage girl) are meant to identify with, is better then everyone else. She is given special treatment by everyone when she fails her test (its ok she dissobeid are orders that how we know she's goo for the military) especially by the hot older boy that sees just how special she is. Aside from the plot this is jus a bad action film. ill complain about many films in maze runner and hunger games but at least there action scenes amount to something. if your action takes mostly through a series of tests in virtual reality then why should I care, it effects nothing.
Not to mention the bland performances in which talented young actors and Jai Courtney are forced to be serious and take taking the equivalent of a buzzfeed quiz like the most important thing in the world.
Overall an increasingly bland movie that although creating a hilariously none sensicle scfi world that sadly isn't bad enough to be enjoyable.
2/5
