Another Good Franchise Starter!

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2015)

To be quite frank, I enjoyed Divergent. I tried to read the book, but I was never able to finish reading the book. The movie is a better movie than I thought. I honestly don't get the comparisons between this and the Hunger Games other than the dystopian futures and a strong, female protagonist. They are both different stories and I enjoy each movie for different reasons. This movie doesn't feature strong romance and I like the fact how there are factions based off virtues, which I find intriguing. There are some cool action scenes and I also enjoyed the pretty effective visuals.
Neil Burger's film is about a girl named Tris Prior who was assigned to the Dauntless faction, or pretty much the army of the city. She has a dark secret in which she is divergent, or the ability to have all virtues. The government has a plan to wipe out all Divergents and Tris, along with the mysterious Four, must figure out why and how to stop them.
I believe that the cast did an excellent job. Shailene Woodley is a good, young actress and she played her role very well. Theo James actually made for a good Four and of course all the girls would be all over him. Jai Courtney, whom was bad in the last adaptation of Die Hard, delivers a stronger performance as the leader of Dauntless. Kate Winslet gives a malicious performance as the head government leader. Other standouts include Miles Teller and Ashley Judd.
Overall, Divergent is the beginning of what seems to be another profitable, young-adult franchise. I love the nature of the film and it is a better movie than book, which is often very rare. I was able to understand the concepts, thus making me more appreciative of them. Is this the best young-adult movie? Of course not, but I regard highly the value of it being fun and entertaining. I cannot way to see this story continue.
My Grade: A-