A Review of the Script of Divergent

Rating: 6/10 (23 February 2015)

Imagine living in a futuristic society where all life is divided into five factions based on virtues, and everyone must fit into exactly one of these five factions or their lives are at stake. This scenario presents exactly the basis for the movie Divergent, a film version of author Veronica Roth's novel. The film follows an adolescent girl named Tris Prior on her adventure of growth and survival in a dystopian society. Each year there is a "Choosing Ceremony" in which all children who have turned sixteen must choose which faction they will spend the rest of their lives in. In an extremely difficult decision, Tris finds herself in the faction she will call home, fighting for a place to become an officially initiated member. When Tris finds out that she is what the leaders of society call "Divergent," it is evident that she cannot be controlled or fit into just one faction. This discovery means that Tris must fight for her life as the leaders of society hunt down and attempt to kill all Divergents, who threaten the faction system. While the story line of the novel written by Roth proves brilliantly entertaining and catches the attention of readers, the movie script seems to lack the zeal with which the story was originally written. The script for the movie Divergent destroys the entertaining, suspenseful, and emotionally endearing story line originally created by Veronica Roth in her novel.
Divergent's movie script fails to develop important emotional aspects of the story that are crucial to very plot and development it. The story is virtually all about identity and the development of one's self. And the people that appear in Tris's life play a huge role in her development and growth into adulthood. Unfortunately, the characters presented in the movie are incredibly underdeveloped and their impact on Tris's life is nearly impossible to fully see. As Christy Lemire said in her published review of Divergent on the Roger Ebert Memoriam Website, "the supporting figures who had identifiable personalities in the book mostly blend into the background in the movie." This tragedy can be very well seen through many characters, but most importantly through one specific antagonist to Tris. The character of Peter in the movie appears to be a background figure, one of Tris's competitors for a spot in her faction. He comes off as sarcastic, fairly mean, and sometimes even funny. However, in the original story presented through Roth's novel, Peter is evil. There is certainly no better word to describe him other than evil. As Tris's arch nemesis, he attacks her physically and verbally any chance he gets. Many mean remarks directed at Tris leave his mouth, but not one of them could be described as remotely funny. He even goes to the length of stabbing a fellow initiate in the eye with a butter knife during the night just to knock out his biggest competition. He touches Tris inappropriately before trying to kill her, which scars her permanently. Peter is portrayed as almost a completely different character in the movie compared to his true self in the book. This lack of development of his character along with others proves to take out a large emotional influence important to the story. The script lacks ways in which the truth behind many characters could come out, and this contributes to the detriment of emotional development in the story.
Not only does the script for Divergent contribute to the lack of character and emotional advancement, but it also contributes to the weakness in entertaining and attention-holding abilities of the movie. ABC News put out a review by David Blaustein claiming that "Divergent is a mildly entertaining movie that only succeeds because of its talented cast." First of all, most of the movie is consumed by long hours for Tris and the other initiates training and completing activities to earn their place in the faction. This training consumes over half the movie and easily loses the attention of the viewers. Secondly, due to the fact that characters are underdeveloped, relationships are also underdeveloped. The core relationship between Tris and her love interest, Four, develops through many encounters and complications in Roth's novel; however, in the movie it remains a surface level relationship that develops quickly. The lack of complexity to the relationship in the movie causes a lack of attachment from viewers to the movie. Like Blaustein stated, the movie only overcomes the lack of relationships and entertainment through the sheer talent of the actors.
Overall, Divergent succeeded in the movie business, making thousands of dollars in profit. However, the movie itself is ultimately a failure. It did not successfully portray the thought provoking, emotionally endearing, and attention- grabbing story originally written by Veronica Roth in her novel. Although the movie basically followed the plot of the story, it removed the important relationships and characters that were developed in the book and that were essential to the success of the story. The movie script dissected the brilliant novel written by Roth and took out parts that gave the story the emotional depth it needed to reach its full potential. As the most important thing that makes up a movie, the script of Divergent damages the movie itself and weakens the overall success of the film.