For Brain-Dead Idiots Only

Rating: 3/10 (10 January 2015)

OK, this film is based on Young Adult fiction. When I was a young adult and reading books that meant no sex, single plot lines, no swearing, and the complexities of daily living are ignored. It didn't mean that there was no plot and completely unbelievable situations.
I tried, I really tried with this film, but after 30 minutes I gave up. If this is the sort of stuff young adults are reading now and this is what's considered good stuff, then let's destroy all books published in the last 20 years and start all over again.
We're meant top believe that every teenager in Chicago, which has been shut off from the rest of the world, when they reach a certain age, has to choose their future career based on a drug-fuelled dream and that, once that career has been chosen, then they can never change that career. And there are only 5 careers open to them. Really? Really?!? Really! And this choice is to be made by these teenagers at a ceremony where they share blades, cut themselves on their palms and drop blood into a bowl. Really? Really! And if they want to join Dauntless - the soldiers and police - they need to have no brains, be all brawn, follow orders mindlessly, and be as reckless as possible. Really? Really! First act of the new Dauntless recruits? Jump on the non-stopping overhead trains, and then jump off a few minutes later onto the roof of a building (again whilst the train is in motion). Proof, if proof were needed, that Dauntless is full of idiots with a lot more luck than judgement.
And that's just one of the 5 Factions.
Yes, young adult fiction is less complex that adult fiction, but that doesn't mean brainless, it means simpler.
I just couldn't switch off my higher brain functions watching this film and gave up before I felt my IQ start to ooze out of my nose, taking a permanent dive into single figures.
If you really, really don't think at all when you're watching films, then you might be able to get through this one unscathed. For the rest of us, who rank above amoebas on the intelligence scale, this is one film to avoid.
There are no options for those who want to be in manufacturing, so the city just miraculously maintains itself,