Action packed, intense and suspenseful.

Rating: 9/10 (16 June 2014)

It was a really well made movie and the action scenes were well executed. I missed a bit of the beginning of the film, so was a bit confused throughout but I get it now. It"s a pretty good storyline. Actually, it's quite brilliant really. So simple, yet so captivating.
The visuals were really stimulating and detailed, which made it really believable. Some elements reminded me of 'inception' as well. Just in the way it was edited and contrasted.
But the thing with these stories (Divergent and Hunger Games) is that they all question the leaders of the society or the way that society works. I don't know if they're trying to get more people aware of the power that leaders abuse and to take action against it, but I think because it is set in the future, people might not think of it in the present. I mean, there are already a lot of people aware of the power that leaders abuse- especially if you turn on the news and hear about the rioting and civil wars going on in parts of the world (Syria, Venezuela etc), but because we all live in our own little bubble, we don't think it concerns us. So maybe these novels/films are trying to reach out to the younger population and to make them think about these issues and if that's the case, that's totally awesome but it doesn't necessarily make them think of the NOW.
Right.
Moving on, I'm a huge Maggie Q fan (Nikita FTW), so was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more of her. She could've done a lot of action scenes as well, maybe in the future films! *Crosses fingers* Not even sure if her character lives beyond the first book though, but I'm praying so hard that she does. I'll read the books soon.
Also, I kind of hate the fact that though we have this powerful female protagonist, she is still mostly portrayed as the damsel in distress and needs the guy to save her. I guess they were trying to establish the 'chemistry' between them, but I found those scenes to be a bit awkward and unnecessary. Oh well, at least this passes the Bechdel test.
Wait- I just thought of this one example (which was evident in Twilight as well) that really is extremely problematic. The guy goes "if I wanted to hurt you, I would already have' or something like that. I've never noticed this before but thanks to my gender studies class, I realize how pro-abusive these kinds of statements are. Think about it for a second. The guy is asserting his dominance, saying I have the power to hurt you, but I choose not to.
Please. I could kick you in the balls but I choose not to. Whatdya think of that?
And the fact that the cast was predominantly white. Not hating on this film, just pointing out the obvious that most often flies over our heads.
Read the full review at championangels.wordpress.com