Don't listen to the critics and just enjoy the film

Rating: 8/10 (22 November 2014)

Divergent 8/10- Most are skeptical of book to movie adaptions, especially when it is in the young adult genre, and most movies of the past have not given the genre a good name. Divergent however, is a solid film that without a doubt makes up for all of them. It takes you on a non-stop suspense-filled ride while staying true to the book and literally makes the magnificent words fly off the page.
I would like to clarify that it is not some twilight garbage or trying to rip the Hunger Games. It is its own film and does a fine job standing by itself.
I will begin by saying that I do agree that at certain points of the film, it does feel like they are going a little slow and are dragging on a certain scene. These scenes are this way though because the director has a gigantic respect for the book and wanted to stay true to the book as much as possible. The main problem that I heard most people had with the film is that they felt like the ending was too rushed. I can see why someone would think that, and I do agree that is was a little rushed but I still thought it was a near-perfect scene. Again, the reason it was this way is because that is how it is in the book. I love the book and I loved all of the scenes that they chose for the movie, but I would have maybe changed the scenes a tiny bit just so it would be more amicable for an audience. Those changes would be very small though and all of these minuscule problems in no way stopped me from enjoying the film.
Whoever was the head production designer deserves an Oscar for this movie. He made the exact images that I pictured in the book come to life. He picked the perfect shades for the colors of each faction and made amazing communities for each faction as well. He did an outstanding job particularly on the dauntless designs. I was very concerned coming into the film about how he would portray the dauntless and the place they live in, but I was just astounded by how great of a job he did. The fighting arena, the pit, the rooms, they were all awesome. I would also like to give props to the choreographers of the film for completely coming up with a new way to fight. They do not follow the usual boxing type fighting, they design their own that significantly contributes to each combat sequence.
The casting directors of Divergent could not have done a better job, particularly with Shailene Woodley and Theo James who play Tris and Four. I'm really glad that they took their time and found the perfect people for the movie who have such great chemistry together while still each giving off a good intensity of their own. Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and all of the rest of the cast were amazing together and you could tell that they were all fiercely dedicated to their roles. Shailene Woodley did a great job at really diving into her character Tris Prior and no one could have done as great of a job as her. The emotional scenes she was in were really the highlight of her career. I see plenty of actors that just completely mess up those scenes because they are just not good at acting, but Shailene Woodley really made you believe she was experiencing what Tris Prior was in those moments of the film. Theo James did just as good of a job and I truly believe that no one could hold his own with Shailene Woodley as well as he did. He really puts on the mask that Four does at the beginning but as his character develops, he changes with him and really was a perfect choice for the role. The rest of the cast all did an above-average job, but Shailene and Theo were really the ones that were mentioning walking out of the theater.
My advice to you is do not listen to the critics, most of them just do not like the young adult genre in general. The movie the best film out right now and I strongly recommend that you go see it in theaters.
For more of my reviews, go to my website at reviewsbywest.com