This movie is enjoyable, but the structure of its own plot prevents Divergent from a worthy watch.

Rating: 6/10 (21 March 2014)

Divergent is based on the popular teen novel by Veronica Roth about a post-apocalyptic society where everyone is divided into factions based on what trait the have, be it bravery, kindness, selflessness, etc. I have read the book and I will be honest; I was not a huge fan of it. I thought it was good, but there was some things wrong with the story that I couldn't look past. But we aren't here to talk about that, are we? I wasn't originally wanting to see Divergent, but my mom wanted to, so I decided to watch it. After watching the movie, I can safely say that it's alright. I'm going to start this review with what I liked about the movie. First off, the acting. I thought everyone in this movie did a good job. Shailene Woodley did a good job as Tris, Kate Winslet did a good job as Jeanine, Theo James surprised me with his performance as Four. In my opinion, the person who stole the show was Jai Courtney as Eric. He did a fantastic job being a menace. I also thought the action was cool. It was fast paced, intense, and had guns. Lots and lots of guns. The only thing I didn't like about the action was that it took so long to get there. All the action-y stuff happened with about 20 minutes left in the movie. Not that it was a necessarily bad thing. Seeing all the initiates go through training was pretty cool. This movie, as well as the book, just has an interesting premise. An entire world that's divided into colonies defined by their attributes is just cool. It may be borrowing a little too much from The Hunger Games, but I don't mind. Now I must talk about what I didn't like. First is, actually, the romantic relationship between Tris and Four. I know! Criticize me all you want, but it's my opinion! I felt like their romantic relationship felt unnecessary and almost out of place. This was, in fact, one of my biggest complaints about the book. Look, I think romance in movies and books are just fine. In some cases, they're actually done very well. This one just didn't click with me. Another complaint was that this movie seriously lacked tension until the last 20 minutes or so. Characters get into the life threatening situations, but for most of the time, I didn't feel tense or worried at all. I will admit is that part of it is because I read the book, but that doesn't really matter. The movie is pretty predictable and you can expect what's going to happen next and how they will get out of the situation. You may feel tense in these moments, but I didn't have that feeling, which kind of bummed me out. While I didn't love the book, one of the things I enjoyed was that it had really tense moments. The movie seemed to butcher those moments, in my eyes. The movie's biggest problem is how it handles the source material. Don't get me wrong, it follows the book pretty well. It's how the movie uses the source material that is the fault. This movie zips by important plot points way too fast, leaving you with a "wait, what?" or a "well that just happened" mentality. It goes too fast for you to actually care about what's at stake. I may have a lot to criticize, but Divergent is still a decently enjoyable movie. It's worth a watch, but I wouldn't go full price. See if you can go on a matinée or rent the movie off of RedBox. It is not as good as the book, but the movie is good enough to get some enjoyment. And I hope Shailene Woodley goes far in her acting career. She is very good and I have a feeling you will be seeing more of her very soon.