The Cerebral Games

Rating: 8/10 (30 March 2014)

Since the release of the juggernaut "Twilight" back in 2008, Hollywood has been searching for any film, based on a young adult novel, that would spark the same craze those movies did. While some are successes, such as "The Hunger Games", there are countless others that just fall to the waste side. Does the new film "Divergent" rise to occasion or just fall into the same league as the other failures? The plots of "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent" are very similar but different in their own ways. Both take place in a futuristic society that has become a wasteland. The people in these societies have been split into different factions that serve their own purpose to the high power of the government. These governments try to play it off as if they are one of the people but, of course, stand for everything these societies are built on, which is freedom.
In "Divergent", which takes place in a post-war Chicago, people are split into five factions: the selfless Abgenations, the peaceful Amitys, the honest Candors, the brave Dauntless, and the intelligent Edrudites. When children are sixteen they are given a test to see where they would fit in. After the results are given, they are must choose to go with what their results were or choose their own path. Our young heroine, Beatrice or Tris as she later refers to herself as, is urged by her family and faction in Abnegation to stay, but becomes part of the Dauntless. She wants to be part of the group who protects the city and lives a more wild lifestyle than the other four.
The first half of the film is a bit slow paced. It is a very stereotypical journey of a fragile young woman slowly being transforming into a strong woman. As Tris, the film's star Shailene Woodley does just fine. Tris isn't as powerful of a character as Katniss from "The Hunger Games" but also isn't a complete bore like Bella Swan. She falls nicely in the middle. Though Woodley, at times, does play it bland at times she does own the role and makes you care about this young girl and her journey.
Director Neil Burger does the future well. It is a very sterile future that seems too clean and pure for its own good. As far as the look of everything it echoes science fiction films like "Logan's Run". Burger does have some pacing issues with a run time that went a bit too long. It is close to 150 minutes. Some of it, especially the beginning, could have been trimmed a bit. The only other fault I would give the director would be the waste of the role that Winslet has. What is with Hollywood casting great actresses to fill roles that aren't good enough for their talents? It happened in "Elysium" with Jodie Foster and it does in this film with Winslet. It isn't a terrible performance but one that just requires them to go through the motions of being a typical female baddie, right down to the wardrobe.
Those things that don't work are overshadowed by what does work. The film is quite smart in the way it handles what it has to say. The title of the film comes from those select people in society who have all the qualities of the five factions. They have the ability to have empathy and see situations as whole instead of just through their own factions beliefs. Of course, the higher ups, who are the Edrudities, don't want this because this would inspire hope in people through ideas. They are creating soldiers through brain washing their citizens into doing their dirty work. It is a an interesting way to communicate to younger people, who read these novels, the power of influence and the even greater power of fear of non-acceptance. Even though she can kick ass, which she does to her costar Milles Teller, who plays a sleaze bag here, who also starred with in the the terrific "The Spectacular Now", Tris' true power is her ability to influence others and show that they don't have to succumb to others beliefs. Woodley does have the pureness to sell this ideal. One of her initiation processes is facing her fears head on in a dream like sequence. Burger captures the insanity that goes through a young teenage girl's mind perfectly. Especially one in the wasted world where Beatrice grew up in. There are other surprisingly wise decisions made in this film to communicate the down falls of a controlled society which you should see for yourself.
While "The Hunger Games" shows its points through a grand and epic scale, "Divergent" is more cerebral in the way it lays out its evidence. "Divergent" maybe the answer to people who like a less flashy way of telling them the downfalls of the "perfect society