Divergent

Plot synopsis:
The sun rises over a field in a futuristic Chicago. A rusty old ship rests on land, seemingly deserted for ages. Lake Michigan appears to be mostly dried up. We move to the rest of the area, where people are walking around wearing uniforms of identical colors to match their place of living. Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) explains that after a great war, society was divided into five separate areas called factions to maintain order.The Erudite faction is for the smartest and most logical-thinking people. They dress in a dark shade of blue.The Amity faction is meant for the kind and peaceful. They grow crops and provide for other factions. They dress in orange and yellow.The Candor faction values honesty, and they dress in black and white.The most fearless go to the Dauntless faction. They are the protectors of the nation, and they are known for their bravery as much as they are known for their crazy behavior. Their uniforms are black.Beatrice and her family reside in the Abnegation faction. They wear light grey clothes and are selfless and do not value power, giving them the nickname "Stiffs." They provide for the factionless, those who have no place to call home (basically the homeless population of the city). Because of this selfless demeanor, Abnegation forms the city's government. Beatrice's father Andrew (Tony Goldwyn) works closely with the Abnegation leader Marcus Eaton (Ray Stevenson). Her main concern is that she does not know where she really belongs.Beatrice's mother Natalie (Ashley Judd) cuts her hair and only allows her a brief amount of time to see her reflection to avoid vanity. It is the day of Beatrice's aptitude test, along with her twin brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort), in which they will find out which faction they are best suited for. She asks her mother if she was nervous when she took her test. Natalie says 'No. I was terrified.'Beatrice and Caleb go to the station where other 16-year-olds from the other factions are taking their aptitude tests. A Candor member, named Peter (Miles Teller), mocks the Abnegation kids and blames them for the dwindling supplies. Beatrice continues to wonder just where she will fit in. After the kids are all put through a brief history of the test and its origins, she gets up to take the test, monitored by a woman named Tori (Maggie Q). She puts Beatrice in a chair and has her drink a blue serum to start the test. Beatrice closes her eyes and then opens them to find herself alone, with Tori no longer standing by her side. She gets up and sees her reflection. She keeps turning her head and sees more and more reflections. Then there appears to be a rabid dog. It growls at Beatrice and then runs toward her. She closes her eyes and then sees it as a puppy. Her younger self appears, wanting to play with the puppy. It reverts to its mangy dog form, running to attack the little Beatrice. The older one runs after the dog, and they sink through the floor. Beatrice awakens with a jolt. Tori is in a panicked state. Beatrice asks her what the results were. Tori says they were inconclusive. According to the results, Beatrice is suited for Abnegation, but also Erudite and Dauntless. This is a rare case, known as Divergent; being suited for more than one faction. Tori tells her to go home and say she was sick from the serum.When Beatrice gets home, she is hesitant to tell her family what her results were. She just says she got Abnegation again. Andrew says that he needs to resolve matters with Abnegation as there is trouble going on with the faction's helping of the factionless, as well as a rumor being spread that Marcus hit his own son. It's also hinted that Erudite wants to be the ruling faction, instead of Abnegation.The day of the Choosing Ceremony arrives. The Prior kids meet the Erudite leader, Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet). It is suggested that someone in Erudite (most likely her) has been spreading the rumor about Marcus. Once the ceremony commences, the new initiates step up to a table with five bowls and a knife. They cut their hands and give a drop of blood into these bowls to choose their factions. Caleb chooses Erudite. There is scattered applause in Abnegation but the Erudite members proudly welcome him. Beatrice goes up, nervous. She cuts her hand and almost drops blood into Abnegation, but then decides on Dauntless. Her parents are surprised, and the Dauntless members welcome her. The initiates leave with their factions, and Beatrice looks at her mother one last time.Beatrice arrives in the Dauntless faction with all the other initiates. They run wild, climbing to the top of the elevated train tracks and chasing after the train as it goes so they can hop onto it before it's too late. Beatrice meets a Candor initiative, named Christina (Zoe Kravitz). They then have to jump off the moving train onto a rooftop. Dauntless leader Eric (Jai Courtney) gathers everyone over the edge of the rooftop for them to jump into a hole. He asks for a volunteer to go first, and Beatrice steps forward. After some hesitation, she jumps into the hole and lands on a net. She is pulled out by Dauntless instructor Four (Theo James). He asks for her name, and she decides to call herself 'Tris'. When everybody else comes down, he leads the initiates to The Pit, where everybody is having fun and they get to eat. There, Tris meets an Erudite initiative named Will (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) and Christina's friend from Candor, Al (Christian Madsen). Another Dauntless leader, Max (Mekhi Phifer), comes out to greet the initiatives and welcome them to Dauntless. The initiatives, including Tris and Christina, get carried away proudly.The initiates are given new all-black Dauntless clothing and set to begin training for them to prove they are worthy of staying in Dauntless. Eric warns them that if they fail to reach the top ranks, they will be kicked out of Dauntless and stay factionless, unable to return to their old homes. The first stage of training is combat where the initiatives fight against each other. Tris is put up against the last person to jump into the hole, a girl named Molly (Amy Newbold). Molly beats Tris easily. Additionally, she does not fare well in shooting practice or other tests. Four and Eric sneer at Tris and doubt her ability to keep up. To cheer her up, Christina, Will, and Al take her to a parlor to get tattoos. There, Tris finds Tori and follows her, even though it looks like she's trying to avoid her. She warns Tris that she shouldn't have chosen Dauntless as her new faction, because there are people looking for Divergents. She gives Tris a tattoo of three flying birds.Tris practices fighting on a punching bag, with Four coming to watch. He tells her she's weak, but fast, and her moves won't work. He positions her properly and gives her tips on what moves she should use. Meanwhile, Christina is fighting Molly, getting beaten pretty badly. Christina is knocked to the floor and recoils from Molly, pleading for no more. Eric asks Christina if she wants to give up, and she says yes. He helps her on her feet and guides her somewhere. They walk over a bridge that stands over a deep chasm. Eric asks her if she's feeling better and then pushes her off the bridge. Christina grabs onto it for dear life, and Eric times her to make a choice - hang on and he will forget her cowardice, let go and die, or give up and force herself out of the faction. She almost slips off until the time is up, and she's still hanging on. Tris and Four pull her out as she cries. Eric reminds them that Dauntless cannot be afraid of anything nor can they ever give up.The initiates then practice throwing knives at targets. Al throws his knife weakly and it doesn't hit anywhere close to the target. Eric tells him to go get it, but Al refuses to as everybody is throwing their knives. Eric stops everybody and forces Al to stand in front of the target. Before Eric throws his knife, Tris tells him that this won't prove anything. Eric makes her take Al's place. Four grabs four knives to throw. He throws the first one far away from Tris, but gets closer with each knife until he throws the last one close enough to cut Tris's ear. After the practice, she tells Four that he cut her, but he says Eric wouldn't have let her out of there if she was left without a scratch. The other initiatives, including Molly, congratulate Tris. Peter approaches her to congratulate her sarcastically while adding that there is a news report on both Tris and Caleb and their both choosing to leave Abnegation for other factions.The next day, Jeanine and a couple of Erudite Council members go into Dauntless, as it is implied they are searching for the Divergents. Tris never reveals her status, but Jeanine tells her to let her know if she needs anything.Tris is set up to fight against Peter. Four reminds her of the moves he told her about, which is to dodge her opponent's move and go for his throat first. Four also tells Tris that Peter always steps in before striking. Peter, being significantly bigger than Tris, has something of an upper hand, but Tris hits him in the throat as planned. However, he still ends up beating her hard, knocking her down, and then knocks her out with a stomp to the face.When she wakes up, Tris sees Christina and Will standing by her side with black jackets. Will tells Tris she's been out for a day and that Eric has decided to cut her from the faction. Her friends leave to join the other Dauntless initiates on the moving train. Tris, not ready to be thrown out, runs after the train and hops on. Eric is slightly impressed by her determination and allows her to join in on their game. Both Eric and Four gather up members for their team in an extreme version of Capture The Flag, with everyone carrying guns full of darts that simulate the pain of a gunshot. They are all taken to an abandoned amusement park, are divided into two opposing sides, and Four's team tries to come up with strategies on taking the other team down. Tris appears to want to say something, but impatient with all the discussion she simply acts alone to get an idea of where their opponents' flag & forces are from a better, higher vantage point. So she begins to climb the huge Ferris Wheel. Four follows her, though he looks uneasy climbing up. Tris realizes that he's afraid of heights. They get their view on the other team and lead their team into an smart attack. Together, Tris and Four shoot through Peter and Eric, and Tris takes Molly down, and with Christina they gain the flag and emerge victorious. As part of a final Dauntless initiation, Tris joins the others on a crazy zipline over the city. She pulls the braking cable just before she hits the wall at the end of the line.The next day, the Dauntless initiates are taking in bags of supplies from Amity and loading them onto trucks. Tris sees a light flashing in her eyes as if somebody is trying to get her attention. She walks behind the trucks and finds her mother had signaled. They hug. Natalie asks Tris if she really got Dauntless for her aptitude test. She admits her results were inconclusive. Natalie warns her not to let anybody know about this and to be safe, because Erudite is hunting down Divergents, believing they are a threat to their system since they do not conform to just one faction and are capable of free-thinking. Tris then asks Natalie if she was Dauntless. She leaves before answering.Tris's ranking rises above the dreaded red line, keeping her right above Al. Her current position is #20. The next stage of training is a simulation room to test out the initiates' control of their fears. Molly walks out of the room, shaking and trembling. Four oversees Tris's test. As the simulation begins, Tris sees herself in a field outside a town, behind a fence near the Amity faction. A flock of crows fly over her and swoop down to attack Tris. She tries to run but gets stuck in mud. The crows surround her, but she tells herself "This isn't real," and she swims into what looks like a puddle but actually holds a larger body of water. Tris is snapped out of the simulation. Four asks her how she got out of there so quickly. She only lasted three minutes, quicker than most initiates. Tris says she just got into the water. Her second simulation has her coming up to her friends, but she is trapped by an invisible wall. Christina appears to laugh at her and then talks to Peter. Tris realizes she is in a tank that slowly fills up with water. It starts to fill up to the top until she is completely submerged. She sees her reflection and once again tells herself, "This isn't real." She taps the glass lightly, but it somehow causes a big crack before finally breaking completely. She wakes up from the simulation again, and Four once more questions how she got out of there so fast. He's noticeably suspicious, and tells Tris that no Dauntless has ever completed the simulation so quickly.Tris goes to visit Tori. She reveals to Tris that her brother George was Divergent but he chose Dauntless as his faction. When he was found out, he was dropped into the chasm.Tris goes to Erudite headquarters to visit Caleb. The other Erudite members look at her with surprise to see a Dauntless member in there. Tris tells Caleb that she thinks Erudite is planning to take over the other factions, starting with Abnegation. Caleb, now acting and thinking like a real Erudite, agrees, but maintains his devotion to his faction over his family ("faction over blood"). Tris tearfully leaves when she realizes her brother won't help her. She is stopped by two Erudite officials trying to take her in. She punches one of them and tries attacking the other when Jeanine stops them. She takes Tris into her office to refresh her. Jeanine reminds her of the need to maintain a balance in the system, as well as peace.When Tris returns to Dauntless, she is caught by three masked guys. They carry her and nearly throw her into the chasm, but she fights herself out. She unmasks one of them, shocked to see it is Al. She fights them off and Four comes in to her rescue. He tends to her wounds, and she expresses disbelief that Al would attack her. Four says it's because he's trying to boost his ranks since he knows he's close to getting kicked out. Later, when everybody is eating in The Pit, Al tries to apologize to Tris for what he did. She tells him to leave her alone and that she'll kill him if he touches her. Afterwards, Tris and Christina come across the chasm where some Dauntless members are pulling out a body. It's Al, having jumped to his death out of guilt. Tris feels somewhat responsible for this. Tris admits to Four she isn't sure she'll pass her final testing either. When Four asks why, Tris says that Four knows she is Divergent. Four acknowledges that he knows, and says he's going to help her.Four brings Tris into the simulation room where he lets her get inside his mind to show her his fears. They start off high above the city, simulating Four's fear of heights. Tris suggests they jump because it's not real, but Four says that's something a Divergent would do. They need to overcome their fears the way a Dauntless would. They walk carefully over to the tower nearby to continue. They become trapped inside a vent, simulating Four's fear of containment. The walls start closing in on the two of them. They discover some nails and wedge them into the wall-floor joint. This stops the walls from crushing them. Four's next fear has him being forced to execute a factionless girl, but he cannot look at her with his gun aimed at her. Only by looking away can he fire. Finally, he and Tris find themselves in Abnegation - Four's original faction. They're in a house. Coming down the stairs is Marcus, holding a belt. Tris realizes that Four is Marcus's son, Tobias Eaton. Marcus walks over with the belt to hit Four, but Tris fights him off, and the simulation ends. Tris and Four walk onto the balcony of his apartment. She realizes he is "Four" because of his four fears. He shows her the tattoos on his back. He has the symbols of each faction on his back. Four states that he doesn't want to belong to just one faction. He wants to be kind, fearless, honest, selfless, and intelligent. This hints that he, too, is Divergent. The two of them kiss.Later, Four shows Tris a few Erudite members bringing in supplies. He shows her a vial of an orange serum that is being used to make people more prone to suggestion.Tris's final test comes, with Jeanine and other Erudite members, along with the Dauntless members, watching her. She is sat down in a chair and is told that her hallucinations will be viewed on monitors. Her previous fears come back to her. She is almost attacked by crows again, but this time, she doesn't jump in the water. She sees the field catching fire and grabs a burning branch to scare off the birds. Tris suddenly finds that she's tied up and lashed to a stake among the burning field. She thrusts her bound wrists down so the fire burns the ropes, and then plunges her hands into the water as soon as she's free. Next, she is back in the glass tank that fills up with water. Instead of breaking the glass, she takes off her jacket and plugs the pipe that sends the water in. She then finds herself in Four's room. He goes to kiss her, but then gets aggressive. He throws her onto the bed as if to rape her, so she kicks him in the groin and throws him off. Tris appears to wake up from the simulation, hoping Four didn't see the last bit. Jeanine comes over to hand Tris a gun as her parents and Caleb walk in. Jeanine tells Tris that she knows what to do. Tris refuses, but then hesitantly aims the gun at somebody (we don't see who) and she pulls the trigger. This snaps her out of the simulation.Tris is officially a Dauntless member. She and the other new members, including Will and Christina, are suited up and given guns as they line up for a mission. The Dauntless members are injected with a tracking device in case anybody gets lost, but Tris realizes they've actually been injected with the mind-control serum. As the Dauntless board the elevated train, Max and Eric see a man wandering out of line, uncertain of who to follow, leading them to realize he is a Divergent. Eric tells the man everything will be fine before he shoots him in the head. As the train carries the Dauntless, Tris very slowly and stealthily slips through the crowd until she is standing beside Four, and he takes hold of her hand. They are brought into the Abnegation neighborhood, ready to attack and round up the residents. The Dauntless members round up the Abnegation members, but Tris and Four refuse to join in the chaos. They are found out by Max and Eric, who conclude that both Tris and Four are Divergent. Eric aims his gun at Four, but Tris holds hers to Eric. Max aims at her, and Four aims at him. Tris and Four incapacitate both leaders and make a run for it, evading other antagonistic Dauntless members. They are then captured and brought to Jeanine. She recognizes Four as Tobias Eaton. He tries to attack her, but her guards hold him back. She has Four taken away while she orders Tris to be executed in a back alley. Before the villains can shoot her, they are shot by Natalie. She rescues her daughter, and Tris realizes that her mother was indeed a former Dauntless. They take their weapons to defend themselves. Will shoots at Tris and Natalie, and Tris has to kill him. She is upset that she had to do it, but her mother comforts her.More Dauntless members appear to shoot at Tris and Natalie as they make a run for it. They fight back, but Natalie is shot in the side and quickly dies. Tris holds her mother and cries. She goes to find her father and Caleb in a safe house. She cries to her father, mourning Natalie's death. Caleb mourns as well, having left Erudite after realizing their corruption. Tris tells them that the serum Erudite gave the Dauntless members is controlling them into attacking the Abnegation members; part of a plot to usurp control of government from the Abnegation faction. To stop this, they must infiltrate the Dauntless fortress. Tris leads them away.Tris guides Andrew and Caleb, and another fighter, to the train that takes them to Dauntless. They jump off the train onto the rooftop and down into the hole. Tris finds Peter and forces him to tell them where the fortress is after shooting him. The heroes encounter more controlled Dauntless members. Andrew shoots at them and kills them, but he is shot and also dies quickly. Caleb cries over his father, and Tris briefly mourns him as well. She continues moving until she finds the room with Jeanine and others, ready to complete the controlling of the Dauntless. all ready to kill many of the Abnegation members. Some of the Dauntless have already begun killing some Abnegation members off. Tris sees that Four has also been injected with the serum, controlling him to attack Tris. She fights back, but Four outfights her easily. Tris repeatedly tries to remind him who she is. She grabs a gun and points it at him, but then she turns it around to her own head. She continues to reassure Four, "It's okay, I love you." As Four takes hold of the handle of the gun, ready to kill Tris, she gently keeps his face turned toward her. This helps Four to fight back against the serum and throw off its effects. Four helps Tris fight off the villains. Jeanine tries to finish the process, but Tris throws a knife that pierces Jeanine's hand. Tris orders her to stop the process, and Jeanine refuses, saying she's willing to die for her cause. Four grabs a gun with a vial of the serum and puts it together. Jeanine snarls, "Guess you're not as Dauntless as you thought." Tris replies, "You're right. I'm Divergent." Four throws her the gun and she injects Jeanine with the suggestion serum, forcing her to release the Dauntless members from their control and then wipe the computer, erasing the program. After recovering from the serum and realizing what she'd been forced to do, Jeanine tries to attack Tris with her knife, but Tris knocks her out cold.Four reunites with Marcus, his father, and he is obviously uneasy. Despite this, both Marcus and Caleb join Tris and Four as they board the train heading out of Dauntless. Tris is sad over the loss of her parents and she still doesn't know where she belongs. Four says he does know.Tris narrates again, saying that they feel like the factionless, having lost their homes and loved ones. However, they will continue to fight if they must.The film concludes as the train takes them outside the city wall to Amity.

Tags: murder, violence, flashback, psychedelic, action, sci-fi

Review:
Divergent is based on a series of "young adult" novels I haven't read (and I will never do so), and the producers obviously expect to shoot sequels, so this first film establishes the (absurd) post-apocalyptic world, the bland characters and the obligatory conspiracy in which NOTHING IS LIKE IT SEEMS (translation: everything is exactly like it seems, from the predictable villain to the gallant who starts being a hateful lout, until he softens himself and shows his romantic side).
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.
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 actors did a great job as especially the main characters Four (Theo James) and Tris (Shaliene Woodley) did so good at expressing the actual romance from the book that people actually wanted them to be together in real life.
I'm glad I got around to watching this, I'm not sure who's writing the negative reviews or what they were expecting but I can honestly say that this is the best tween film I've seen in a long time.It IS a tween film, it's blatantly aimed at young girls and as a "twenty-something" youngish female, I'm not embarrassed to say that I really enjoyed this film.
It's pure fantasy fodder of course but here's what I liked about it:the relationship between the two leads develops naturally i.e. they don't see each other and go 'you're my soulmate', in fact they don't really get on at first so this is believable and refreshingthe lead actress (Shailene Woodley) playing Tris is extremely natural and one of a very few actors I've ever seen who has convinced me that they are grieving (usually grief in films is just 'oh, they're dead, I'm so upset' ...
swiftly moves on with their day..) - Actually both of the leads (Theo James as well) play their roles really wellI loved the point of view shots like when Tris looks at Four during the training and you see it from his perspective and then the camera cuts to his face to get his reaction to the look she gives him (there are other similar scenes) and it just adds to the effect of feeling like these are real people and I empathised with them more as a result Yeah the background story for the city is quite thin but who cares, stranger things have happened in the real world and what I like is that we're given a sense of 'this is what they've been told but is that what's really happened?'.
I'm not sure if that's in the book or if the film makers wanted to add some realism for us grown-ups but when they question what's out there, I got the feeling this might be similar to The Island (2005) - that's not a spoiler it's just my opinion and probably totally off baseI have now watched this film about 4 or 5 times because I really liked so much of it: the fighting was believable for me because I think we've all gotten used to flashy choreography and sound effects but that's not what real fights look like or how they sound so for me, these fight scenes are really good.
Thanks to the mega-success of the Hunger Games and Harry Potter, Hollywood's scouring young adult books, like some pedophile in a playground, looking for new material to get their greasy hands on.
Not reading the book, I hope that the movie did well to portray the story but I also know it is a trilogy so they couldn't go from start to finish all at once.
The film is tedious, move at a snail's pace and do not even fall into the category "so bad it is good"It is embarrassing to know that there are those who classify this sophomoric attempt at literature as a dystopian science fiction novel.Pure waste of time, money..
What's more, the movie is not just about bleak dystopian locations and the direct bearing they have on the daily lives of their characters, but it also shrewdly manages to raise some highly pertinent questions about our own existence and what sort of world we could be leaving for the coming generations.
The most uplifting fact about "Divergent" is that it pulls off this unexpected act through astute direction and some incredibly nuanced performances we usually don't associate with summer blockbusters.While, Kate Winslet is an old warhorse and has played practically every type of role with grace and confidence, Shailene Woodley is a revelation, and proves yet again why her name is being taken in the same breath these days with Jennifer Lawrence as one of Hollywood's brightest, upcoming female talents.
Sadly, the rest of the cast offers nothing worth penning down.Now we all are well aware that this film is based on the first of a series of best selling fiction novels by author Veronica Roth, but as alluded to earlier, it's an aberration that the core elements of a good novel are retained while making it viable for a cinematic audience within cinematic time-constraints.
i think this film is one of the best in its category as it not only pushes that amount of scenes which includes violence and nail biting moments to the limit.This film is really the first of its kind it includes all types of techniques from the actors and also the fact about the camera focuses on the emotions of the characters which emphasises what the film is about and links in still with the main storyline.This is a film i would recommend for anyone seeking adventure, drama and action in a film also there will be a sequel to this film called Insurgent..
So Divergent is one of those movies where producers, directors and production houses instead of spending money and time on script, editing, acting and direction decided to spend all the energy on publicity and promotions.
Well, before the movie release they start promoting movie which is the typical case of every big budget movies but they started promoting actress and actor of the movie in every magazine and newspapers, basically they wanted to create a reel life imitating real life scenario between the leading pair the way it happened with Twilight series and because of that, the Twilight series otherwise one of the worse Vampire/Ware-wolf series made lot of money they bank on Kristen and Robert Pattison love chemistry, so the production houses tried to bank on Shailene & Theo chemistry in real life, but it seems that Shailene is not only pretty but she is smart as well, she has lot of potential and she didn't play that game.
The only thing is Shailene Woodley and I believe she is promising but still she is no Jennifer Lawrence and I don't think Divergent would become Hunger Games series.
I don't know how often the other reviews watch a good movie but this isn't one of them.The whole film for me lacked any real goal.
The story makes out that its going to be like a hunger games type battle but it just fades away.This film for me was just life less...I almost left halfway through and was the first out of my seat to leave before the credits started to roll.If you want to watch something currently out thats predictable but with some action i'd watch Captain America.This film has inspired me to write a review on here purely because people hyped it up and I was sorely disappointed.
This is all acted out where plot holes are blatantly overlooked and the identity of a character really isn't that big a deal.Suffering from a lot of vibes similar to that of the vastly inferior first Hunger Games movie.
The way they advertised the movie I thought its going to be something but in real its nothing but a poor try to adopt a very good book.
I was wondering all the time what is the big deal of being a divergent than when I came to know there was only one question "so What?".Personally I am a big fan of Shailene Woodley, I have already listed her as one of my favourite diva but watching this movie I would say she got beauty but no talent.
Having seen the movie, I can only conclude that they simply used the idea behind "The Hunger Games" and added a bit of Harry Potter (the serum-induced psychological test to determine a person's faction reminded me of the Sorting Hat).So, this franchise doesn't come across as anything original.
Since I haven't read the book, I'm not sure if it is Roth's lack of imagination or the screenwriters Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor's failure to bring the book to life, but Divergent is absolutely devoid of any kind of world building to make this film stand out besides its loony way of assigning factions to its citizens.
Sets do not feel lived in and the different factions are hardly explored, making the world even more unbelievable than it already is.Themes of discovering who you are, understanding your place in the world, and standing up for yourself are practically force fed, but in the final third of the film the moral teachings diminish and Divergent transforms into a popcorn action flick.
Divergent is probably best summed up in an anecdote: while trying to point out the difference between The Hunger Games and Divergent, the latter's director Neil Burger started explaining what it was about – and his explanation could have easily been applied to both movies.
But in this case, the problem is mostly of the screenwriters – and probably the novelist, who created the interesting setting and faction system, but didn't exploit their potential fully or elaborate them enough to avoid plot holes and inconsistencies.As I mentioned before, the movie reminds much of The Hunger Games, but I don't see that as the movie's (or the book's) bad quality.
Divergent (the movie, but I doubt the book is better, at least story-wise) isn't good: it's predictable, filled with clichés, boring, too long, unoriginal and so on.
Little did I know.The basic idea of the movie: We live in a post-war world, where people are divided into factions, based on virtues.
I do know several people who have since seen the movie without having read the book and enjoyed the film just the same.
Take any C-movie in the SF genre, wash it at 90 degree C until all colors are gone and that is what "Divergent" does.A silly and unrealistic plot with no other place than maybe in a teenager TV series.All society divided in factions according to character: kind people, brave people, intelligent people and so on...not even the Japanese TV dramas have such a rigid classification of roles for its characters.I read somewhere that Kate Winslet took the role because of her empathy with a story again against all-controlling regimes, but....her more than excellent acting skills are definitely wasted here.Rent "Barbarella", if you are in the mood for an easy SF movie, and you'll have a much better experience..
Those who *demand* award-winning plot and "logical" science in futuristic fiction movies are just being hysterical, for they tend not to notice the fantastical magic, bad physics and overkill tech in their "serious classic" science fictions - from star trek, star wars, 2010, batman to iron man are equally full of gaping logical holes, mostly with no award-winning plot-craft.Truth is, "hard" science is evolving constantly, and science fiction flicks are not made to be 100% accurate or to win awards (if so Blade Runner still wins today), but to explore possibilities in highly-compressed scenarios, to inspire, to enlighten, and foremost, to entertain.In today's myopic, easily self-satisfied world which classifies and judges people by preconceived notions about ethnicity, gender, profession, appearance, merits, we are constantly divided by rigid specialization, subjective education qualification rules, redundant scientific dogmas, simplistic morality yardsticks, always under pressure to choose factions: With-Us-Or-Them, for or anti welfare/ abortion, JLaw-vs-Hathaway, Pepsi or Coke, the in-betweens be damned.Identity by Tribe (and inevitably the side-effect of xenophobia and authoritarianism) is a timely topic, how The Power That Be and their obedient citizenry react to the exceptional, multi-talented, multifaceted generalists who dare to defy categorization.And this is no Twilight.
It seems like a young Veronica Roth got excited to see her name on the big screen and gladly sold out to make a relatively family friendly movie, following the teenage rebellion girl trend, despite the fact that the entire concept of the book is that Tris is different..
I watched this movie just because of a great review that was saying that the movie exceeded the expectations etc, but believe me, this film is full of clichés, don't recommend to watch it on the theater, maybe is better to wait to arrive on blue-ray, I think the movie was made for the teenage public, because of that you are going to see all the peaces that worked in other teen movies on this one, I am just doing this review to alert the people that really likes a well constructed film, with a good script and not intended just to win money.However there is a good part about this movie, if want to see something with your girlfriend, something that you don't need to pay much attention or something that you can take a nap and wake up, this a good movie to do so, I don't need to say much about it, just watch the trailers, if I had watched and just didn't believe in just one review of one person I would really chosen another film, bye and good luck!.
Now here's the thing: I've read the book, which means I started the movie knowing what to expect.
In every single second I could feel how much this movie tried to be the next Harry Potter ripoff, just like Hunger Games did it.
to address the teenage-viewers desire for belonging to a team and having a clear enemy, there's one of the most predictable and unsophisticated romance-story lines involved I've ever seen, the whole set and the actors make one feel like watching a low-budget production, there is so few thought and logic behind this movie, that the constant super-serious atmosphere just makes it even more of a second hand embarrassment.
According to her, the film does a great job at making the book an emotional and entertaining movie without sacrificing major plot points that would otherwise leave fans disappointed.
They took some difficult scenarios from the books which were very well shown in the movie.I would highly recommend people to watch Divergent.
Except it has been very unfortunately mixed with 'Twilight', 'The Hunger Games', and that it now lies somewhere between bad and worst.To think that experienced and successful actresses like Kate Winslet and Ashley Judd signed in to co-star with a whole bunch of TV stars - mostly big screen wannabees - on the basis of such a terrible scenario is pretty self-explanatory in itself: Divergent has only one objective, and that is to create a cash cow like the other recent teenage franchises.It could be called sad, but in the end, there is nothing wrong with doing money.
I believe the film gets the essence of its source material right, despite the complex nature of its source material.Regardless of what the critics or fans said, the worlds and characters of Divergent and the Hunger Games are very different.
I liked reading Divergent, it is not as similar to the Hunger Games as you think it is, it's actually unique in it's own way.
The Soundtrack is bizarre and out of context, Pop songs when the movie tries to sell this as "Serious"The protagonist decides to belong to "Dauntless" (because it is the most entertaining group to make a film, right?), And is warned about two special groups: the "factionless" where individuals who did not pass the test of their faction live in an area of ??decay; and the "divergent" group where they are people who do not fit the mold of legal groups and are quickly killed to prevent rebellions.
Woodley's "Tris" in Divergent is as wonderful as Lawrence's character, "Katniss." It's easy to love them both.Divergent, a young adult book transferred to film, is as entertaining as any following the dystopian trend that includes The Hunger Games and its sequel, Catching Fire.
To me this made the story that much better.The actors in the movie did a very good job, I found that both leads (Shailene Woodley as Beatrice Prior and Theo James as Four/Tobias) did excellent jobs in their roles.
At no point did I want to role my eyes because it was too silly (which happens a lot with these YA books turned into movies), and it managed to keep you interested in what each character was saying.The story adaptation, again, was also very well done.
Good book made into bad movie.
The Hunger Games is only 7.3 and I believe most people who watched both films would not say that this movie is better.
Shailene Woodley is a great young actress in all the movies I've seen her in, and she is the best part of Divergent.
Well that and I wanted to see if it was actually a great film, like The Hunger Games was.
I actually have read the books before I watched it, and I am one of those people who doesn't compare the books to the movie, because we all know that the books will always be better, no matter what.
Divergent was a great movie, but some people really need to put some more thought into their reviews.