Young adults, developing love, disintegration of dystopian society

Rating: 8/10 (25 December 2014)

When I sat down to watch this movie I wasn't sure at first if I would like it but I actually did. I'm not fond of dystopian civilization movies but this one was very good once there was momentum to the storyline. This is a trilogy so the first movie is setting it up for the other two movies or four if they divide the last book into two parts, which has become the standard for a series of books. People need to do a little research before going to see a movie like this. The book was published by Harper/Collins Children's Books, knowing that the novel is geared either for children or young adults. In this case, it was for young adults and that doesn't mean it is to attract fourteen year old teens. People keep bringing up Twilight and this isn't the same type of science fiction story at all. The other is more towards horror and this is not. Besides Twilight was wildly popular and with people of all ages. Those that didn't like the series are in the minority. My daughter was a manager at a movie theater when they were all released and they filled several at each opening and it wasn't all teens.
Divergent is a futuristic society that is after some cataclysm which can be natural or a war and in this case it was a war. People ended up divided by nature but some didn't fit into one category and this threatens this particular society. They kept the story in one city and how they resolved what happened to them and not all over the world. The cast was excellent and I saw no problem with the acting. There will be similarities with other stories of this type if they are based on a dystopian society. This one is nothing like the Hunger Games whatsoever. It follows its own storyline which is quite different but after a great cataclysm how the society was functioning. Don't go if you can't deal with the main actors being young. There were many adults in the movie with major parts and covered by very well known actors. This movie was about going through a test and getting placed in a segment of their society although you were free to choose regardless of the results of the test and once chosen that was it for life.
I enjoyed this movie and I'm a senior. I don't think there is any age preference to watching movies. The subject matter was very serious and very adult oriented. I await the next segment which if as good will have me watching until the last movie as I did Twilight and Harry Potter. This movie did very well at the box office and the reviews are mixed by professional critics. I am not paying much attention to reviews here who are not professional, because most of them are predictable because this side of science fiction is either you hate it or you love it generally speaking and I didn't love it but I thought it was a good movie and very creative. Even though I have seen dystopian movies in the past this one was inventive on many levels. If you know you don't like this type of movie don't do reviews and compare to every other movie with a young cast. The age of the cast isn't relevant it is the reason for them that is relevant, the place they fill in the society being represented. The movie shows how one got placed into the various societal groups when you reached the appropriate age and what they went through in a few of them by the choices they made. It was rigid and the movie showed how it was falling apart because there was no room for change and growth and rivalries began to form. It's violent like other movies of this type, so be prepared for a less than homey atmosphere in the future society created in this story.