Good film, bad action

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2020)

Divergent Review
In the exciting dystopian sci-fi film Divergent, discovering who you are is much easier than it seems. Taking place in the very run-down city of Chicago, everyone is born into one of the five factions, Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless or Erudite. The different factions are divided by different traits and characteristics of the people, such as the selflessness of abnegation, the honesty of Candor, etc. This is all supposedly to create peace, putting people who are similar together and having them work together to create a successful society. When people come of age, they will get one chance to choose which faction they want to be a part of forever. They have a test to help people find where they will best fit in, however they are free to choose whichever faction they want. Tris, however, finds that fitting in may not be as easy for her as it seems.
The setting for this film is very unique and fitting as a post-apocalyptic appearance, and the costumes and outfits are very basic and color-schemed, which is what divides the factions from each other and gives people their identity in a way. There is very little individuality in the factions- each person's role is simply to help the faction and society as a whole. The entire post-apocalyptic dystopian future setting seems to be a somewhat unsuccessful attempt at copying what the Hunger Games did, but with much more training and practicing than action-filled scenes. Tris' duty of climbing up the ranks is a much bigger focus of the film than all of the life-threatening political corruption throughout the film.
The overall acting and emotions of the actors is very good, but at times it can seem off and not fitting to the scene, which sort of ruins the way the scene is most likely supposed to make viewers feel. In some intense fights or in the sad scenes, Tris seems almost emotionless. However, this could also be due to the fact that dauntless have to be fearless and not show emotion, being willing to do things they do not want to for the good of the faction. This shows how she is changing from the shy girl to one of the strongest and bravest characters in the film.
The script is very easy to follow for as young as young teenagers, making it a great film for most ages. It is put together well and not scattered everywhere, and there is a plot line that you can very easily follow along with and see why certain scenes end up being important later on. Although as stated previously, it seems like just another dystopian future film similar to hunger games, with two main characters who work together to overthrow the unfair and corruptly-ruled system. It starts off slow and then gets very intense towards the end, while lacking the many other action scenes that are scattered throughout Hunger Games which helped make it such a success. The audio and music throughout the film is surprisingly impressive, although mainly just in the few action scenes throughout the movie. There are only one or two true thrilling action scenes before the end of the movie, which seems to be where they crammed in all of the action. However, the music in those final scenes, such as intensifying music to foreshadow an upcoming fight, was very fitting and perfect for putting the viewers in the mood for some long-awaited action.
The cuts between different viewpoints are very good, not switching too fast but also not lingering in one place for too long and making it boring. It has very good editing from scene to scene and makes very smooth transitions, making it pleasant to watch compared to movies with annoying cuts every few seconds. Although there are some scenes where the camera switches angles a bit too often, throughout the film it is consistently good.
Overall I rate this film 7/10, because although it was a good movie, I felt as if there was so much more that they could have done to improve it such as adding more action instead of having training for 80% of the movie. The plot line was interesting and easy to follow, but if you are watching it just for intense action, this movie may not be for you. Nonetheless, it is still a very good film and was fun and enjoyable to watch.