Yeah...this movie wasn't made for dudes like me.

Rating: 2/10 (8 October 2014)

"Divergent" makes me feel like I have to take a step back and preface that all my opinions on the film are made under the basis that I am fully aware that I am not the intended audience for the film. I'm a 33 year old man who collects comic books, plays video games, and spends too much money on comic conventions every year—I'm not the person that the production had in mind for watching "Divergent." However, they didn't have me in mind for "The Hunger Games" and I came around to be a fan of that franchise—although, I admit I didn't care for the first film.
While the visuals are good and it really sells the dystopian future the film is set in, and the acting could have easily been a lot worse and, in reality, was pretty passable (although, you would think a film that has both Kate Winslet and Ashley Judd would have a little stronger performances), the film has just a way too predictable formula to really be anything but boring. I understand that this very specific subgenre that is the tween dystopia novel adaptations follow certain guidelines—all genres really do this—but "Divergent" felt like a "fill in the blanks" template for the tween dystopia film. The characters, the story, the unfolding origin of the backstory all play out exactly as you would predict it would as the opening credits begin. In fact, the film is so predictable that there is almost no need to watch it because, chances are, any prediction you make about it will come 100% true.
I was pretty critical of the first "Hunger Games" film but the sequel won me over; however, I don't really see this happening with "Divergent" because the cast doesn't have enough great players thrown in, and the story, overall, is pretty bland and flavorless. Still, I won't rule out this franchise might get better and more interesting. After all, the boring beginning and the whole establishing the universe is now over so, theoretically, things can go up from herebut things can also theoretically go down, as well.