Go See It!

Rating: 10/10 (19 April 2014)

The dystopia genre seems to be taking the box office by storm. It started with Hunger Games, followed up with Ender's Game, and now Divergent is the newest addition. I myself am a fan of this trend. Something about a prospect future excites me, especially if the Hollywood portrayal is done well! I read Divergent and fell in love, it was only natural that I go and see it the night it came out. Shailene Woodley and Theo James do a wonderful job of capturing the characters they play. Although I would have picked some different people for some of the roles each part was played with excellence!
The movie follows a girl, Beatrice Prior played by Woodley, as she attends the of age activities in the city she lives. The first is a personality test, kind of, immediately something is off and the plot thickens. The term Divergent is very hush, hush and not welcomed in the society. At the next coming of age activity Beatrice, must choose the faction she'll belong to. Each of the five fractions values a different virtue. It's at the age of 16 that you must decide what you value most and move into that faction. Beatrice chooses the Dauntless as her new faction with the virtue bravery as the key to her new faction. Thus beginning an age of the new Beatrice hereby named Tris. Tris is entered into a whole new world of the competitive initiation included in her choice.= of Dauntless. In the end Tris being 'Divergent', hence the book/movie name, helps save her life and somewhat the life of others.
I would have liked to see some of the supporting actors differently as well as some of the styling done in the movie. I am very much a purest when it comes to my book turn movie. I'd like everything to be as I see it and there were some parts that just didn't fulfill for me. The casting director did well with the cast mixing well know actors, Maggie Q and Kate Winslet, with some lesser known actors, Ansel Elgort. The only problem acting wise that I had was with the casting of Ansel Elgort, in the movie Caleb, I thought he was a bit stiff in his character and could have embodied him a little better. The other problem I had with the movie was the slight artistic license they took with the movie. I thought that some small details needed to be kept in order to show the grit in the movie. Tori's hair and her personality, her back story, all become important later in the series and weren't addressed in this movie. I hope they will be in the future.
As an original fan of the book, this movie did not disappoint! I'm waiting for the day it's released on DVD so that I can watch it every day without the cost of the movie theater.