A boring, sanitized version with no chemistry between the leads

Rating: 3/10 (24 March 2014)

I read the trilogy (which was nothing special and kept getting more annoying each sequel), but at least the first book had some kind of * something * to it. The movie sucks. It is boring and there is very little action (and what little there was is over too fast and not very thrilling). The violence is sanitized with the only real blood being when Four nicks Tris's ear with a knife toss. The two most horrifying scenes in the book are not even included: the attempted rape of Tris by Peter's gang and the transfer girl who jumps from the train and misses the Dauntless rooftop to splat on the street below. Tris doesn't have a "save the cat" moment early on and provides no real reason to ever like her.
The story takes too long to get going, then the training goes on forever, only to have the ending feel rushed. Not once did I feel anyone's life was in danger. Not once did I perceive any credible romantic chemistry between Tris and Four. Not once did I laugh, cry, or feel anything but bored. And it goes on for two and a half hours! Ugh. Sure, the production values are high, but who cares if I can't relate to any of the characters or the story? It's just a dumb waste of time. I didn't hate it (only because I scored a free ticket), but have no desire to watch the sequels.
However, I'm glad Divergent made a bunch of money opening weekend to pave the way for other YA books to be adapted into films, but they need to do a better job. The reason all the recent YA adaptations tanked at the box office is because they sucked (Vampire Academy, Beautiful Creatures, City of Bones). The only decent one I can remember was Warm Bodies.