Darkness Falls After Twilight

Rating: 5/10 (25 August 2014)

After years of Twilight's torment, we were relieved with the arrival of new, much more interesting titles in the literary world for young adults, and eventually their movie adaptations were announced. Yes, the first Hunger Games movie was okay, but after reading the book, I could tell that it did no justice to the original work. Thus is the case in Divergent, as well. Only this time I didn't have to read the book to be disappointed.
In Divergent's world there exists a ridiculously defective caste system society that consists of five factions: the Selfless, the Peaceful, the Intelligent, the Brave, and the Honest. This system is not in itself the fault of the movie, rather than the book, but let's assume it's granted, and there's no need to criticize it. So, basically Tris (Beatrice, played by Shailene Woodley), is a girl born to the Abnegation faction (the Selfless), and having turned 16 she's coming of age, so she'll need to decide which of these five factions to join for life. A very easy decision indeed, especially when given she must stick with her choice. The results of a personality test tells her she's a Divergent, i.e. she doesn't fit into any of the factions, and this is extremely rare (really? these factions offer very limited career options!). This means Katniss... I mean Tris will be hunted by the powers that be and executed, shall this fact become apparent.
So, what was good and appealing in the first place, was the cinematography of the movie. The dystopian Chicago is impressing, and add the 1st class shooting, you'll have something that looks gorgeous. I particularly enjoyed the scene in which Tris rides the wire from the skyscraper to the ground in night-time, for the night-time urban scenery was astounding.
Unfortunately, looking under the surface, the product is not as beautiful inside.
The screenplay is predictable, unimaginative, and even naive: firstly Tris's no pain, no gain rise from the bottom of her faction class to the elite has been seen in countless stories so many times before, and this one offers nothing new to the subject. Falling in love with her trainer, Four(Theo James), could be seen from miles away, and then there's the power battle between two factions resulting in killing - trouble in paradise. The plot really doesn't give much to the viewer, and it all feels like somebody chewed it ready for you.
The acting is average at best. No one in the cast really made a memorable effort, save perhaps for Woodley when Tris's mother died. She really tries to make most out of her role, which I massively respect, but being Tris is mostly restricted to being anxious all the time. I begin to understand who this movie was targeted for...
The message of Divergent seems to be that everyone should be themselves, no matter what, and to be with your family and other people of your kind, to support them, even when society forbids it. These are important issues, but they could really have been expressed with more finesse and a storyline that actually makes yourself do something with your mind.
One last thing I want to point out is the immense playtime of the movie. I'd understand the 134 minutes if the contents of the movie were worth the time, but as I have made several points about how they are not, it's no wonder I found myself looking at the time several times during this duration.
I wanted to like this movie. I really mean it, without sarcasm or anything else, but my high expectations died as the movie went by. This wasn't so devastating as I maybe led on, having its moments, but I desired to see more than something that inspires a simple 'meh'. Maybe it's the case of the Hunger Games - the movie wasn't a masterpiece, but the book was great, and Catching Fire a fine improvement to its predecessor. I still have a little hope left, and my final judgment on the Divergent movie series depends on the sequel Insurgent, supposedly coming out in 2015.
Rating: 2/5