A Good Start That Became A Legendary Disaster

Rating: 3/10 (23 March 2014)

Alright, let me start by saying that while I've read all 3 books, I am the type that will ignore that when watching a movie and take things as they are.
Now, Divergent is a cool concept. The movie started off reasonably well: it flowed consistently, the visuals were nice, and the acting was decidedly as good as you can hope for. I've got no real complaints about the acting as, while there were a few times I thought it was off, I rather doubt I'd ever find a film I found completely flawless.
So if the acting is good and the story flows well, why do I give it a 3 star, right? Ah, that's just a sad story in itself. For starters, the movie hints at the ending all throughout it: they openly talk about the Divergent being hunted, quite casually I might add; it shows the Erudite working closely with the Dauntless; talk of the Erudite planning against the Abnegation is common; and, the coup de grace, Four (played by Theo James) has a vial of serum they're bringing into Dauntless, that he admits is dangerous!
Alright, now to get to my biggest issue with this film: the ending. First of all, the Erudite are logical geniuses, where is the logic in them engaging Four, a Dauntless legend, in hand-to-hand combat while they've got guns and can attack from a distance? Even more worse than that, in what way does it make sense for Tris and Four to leave Jeanine alive after she controlled all the non-Divergent Dauntless? She's got the leaders of the faction at her beck and call, and her own faction, it wouldn't be hard for her to do the same thing all over again!
Taking into account the story line the remaining two parts take (Insurgent and Allegiant), there are at least 14 things about the movie that cause issues with the remaining films (yeah, someone got me to count them up, though I stopped at 14).
Looking at the book Insurgent alone, there will be a notable issue just in the first scene at Candor as Four and Tris can't possibly be accused of running the simulation. I suppose they can say it's treasonous to leave Jeanine alive, but meh, that wasn't well thought out. There's also the issue that is the Dauntless-born being friendly with Tris: the zip line scene shown in the movie was much less personal than it was in the book, and it never showed Tris being friendly with Uriah or any of the others outside of that (which is weird seeing as Uriah is one of the top initiates, and among Tris' best friends).
I give the movie a 3 star rating because I feel the acting and scenery were at least quite decent, but I can't give it a high grade because it doesn't matter if the acting is spot on in an immaculate scenery if the dialogue and story line are complete crap. It may be passable in a comedy, but not here.
And now for my final disappointment, and that is with casting: Shailene Woodley: Sorry, but I just don't see her as being the plain, helpless chick that Tris is supposed to be initially. She's never exactly plain looking, gives a decent showing as helpless in the beginning but it just doesn't match up right. Her height doesn't really match up with the height match with Four either, though I can let that part slide.
Miles Teller: This guy just seemed too happy to be someone playing Peter. Peter's character is typically vicious, sadistic, and mildly calculating. Miles seemed to be smiling too much in a joyous way to match up with the persona that Peter's character gives.