Good-almost-great adaptation, OK-almost-just-almost-good movie

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2014)

As an adaptation this movie had both amazingly perfect transitions and horrible mistakes, no wonder reviews are so conflicted about it.
I will go through 1) characters 2) events of the movie to try to explain the best where there was excellence and where was a giant mess.
1) Characters.
Four/Tobias - in the book is the very composed, strong, collected character that has dramatic emotional past which crafted the man he has become - a man who hates being weak so much he will torture himself by facing his own fears every day for the rest of his life not leaving a trace of weakness inside him and keeping himself in check, a man who won't lose his composure ( poetically speaking and literally ). However, do not confuse him with a cold-hearted man that just learned not to care, he has a heart that can warm you up in the coldest situations, if that's what you really need, cause most of the time he will give you tough love. So, not the easiest character to bring to life, to say the least. Unfortunately I cannot say that the movie has done a well enough job at introducing us to this character or making his story have as strong of an impact on the viewer as it had on the reader, as a viewer you probably won't feel the admiration or respect that character really had. However, as someone already 'knowing' what he was like, I'll have to say that, to my greatest joy, Theo James has done unbelievable job making Four as fearless and lovely as he was in the book. If anything, the only difference would be that Four in the movie was less vulnerable, less shaky, more solid and profound than you'd remember him in the book. That change of course took some color of his book-character away, but, to be honest, that color was not fitting him to begin with. Reading the book I always had trouble putting Four-still-a-huge-mess-inside and Four-does-not-even-flinch-meeting-his-biggest-fear together. This way, more believable.
Tris - good! Don't have much to say about her. She is easy to picture for the Tris of the book, she could put together being inexperienced but brave, innocent but not a victim, genuinely scared but smart teenager.
Jeanine - perfection! In my head, Jeanine was one of those people that you just wanna attack physically she was so unbearably senseless in her own ideas. Like you cannot believe her! In the movie Jeanine was a total perfection. She pulled off the Erudite soul so well that I can describe that faction with just her character - her detachment, her weird evilness as if 'I really do mean good to the world'. Even small details like when she is physically approached how it surprises her, how unfamiliar she was to any type of power other than the intelligence. Bravo.
Peter - Now, this is why the movie was boring. You see, the most thrilling part of the story is supposed to be the transition of Tris- Abnegation to Tris-Dauntless, and you know why? Because Peter, the real Peter of this story, made it hell and nightmare for Tris to spend a night in the Dauntless compound. He was not a jerk or a dick or an asshole, he was a psychopath, got it? He wasn't making jokes that made you wanna joke back, he made jokes that made you shiver inside and barely hold your composure. I am fine with certain scenes not being there to make it PG-13, but making a real threatening character instead of, actually, very lovely one, would be much appreciated, thank you!
Other characters were well enough or not too much important to go detailed about. Christina was so well cast it's scary ( I actually visioned exactly her features / appearance ), Al - good, just a bit abrupt, Will - yeah but was I supposed to care for him? Molly - are you kidding me.. She is not bad at all, I felt pity for her.
2) Events
When Tris jumps - that scene - is important for her character building. She does not just jump cause she likes to try, she jumps to show to Peter ( who managed to intimidate her already at that point ) and all his dauntless 'hunters' that she is not a victim. That is her first step from selfless to self preserving. She tosses her jacket on him and jumps! That is a much better scene, why change that to whatever, it's not like it would last any longer than it did.
Christina hanging over the pit scene. Overall, OK. But with the timer it would be something! Without it first Eric feels less of a douche cause you already do expect him to pick her up right before she falls, second, it's less scary. With the timer Christina has only herself to save herself, and you really don't know if she will be able to, cause it's no miracles zone.
Stabbing Edward in the eye. Well, not much to say about this scene cause it wasn't freaking there! Errgh.
Well, as you can see, good points outnumber bad ones, overall quite a good adaptation, but not exactly great, cause the few bad ones were really really off. I am not a detailed reader or watcher, things that stand out to me are probably out there for everyone. I am angry a lot on things like Peter not having anywhere near the vibe from the book, but at the same time genuinely glad for so many others ( Four, Tris, Jeanine, Christine ) being so correctly done. For a reader that's a great pleasure.