Film Review Homework

Divergent (2014)

Director: Neil Burger

Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet

Synopsis: In a world divided into five factions, Tris discovers she is a divergent, meaning she doesn’t fit into society’s rules. Divergents are hunted, and she must conceal her identity otherwise she will “disappear mysteriously”. Will she be safe in Dauntless?

With huge blockbuster Young Adult movies flowing through the pipe line of late, you think the world would be sick of vampire love stories and teens killing each other on screens. Apparently not. Divergent is the latest teen sensation, based on the novel by author, Veronica Roth. It’s a story that is easily relatable for young people as it depicts Tris’ struggle to conform to society’s groups. As you would expect, a young hunk in the form of a love interest comes included in the package. Theo James plays the mysterious Four whom Tris falls in love with and together they must decide whether or not to try and overthrow the corrupt people trying to obtain power.

Neil Burger takes his time in getting to the main action of the film, for the majority of the film; we get a build up to the main arch. Despite this, the training sequences of the film make up for the rushed, and frankly poor final scenes which were supposed to be the climax of the film, but failed to give the audience the experience they wanted. Not that this wasn’t expected, a novel adaptation would never have lived up to the quality of the book written by Veronica Roth when she was just a teenager herself.  This doesn’t mean that “The Hunger Games” fans will not love this film; the only thing missing is a love triangle!

With an executive music producer like Hans Zimmer on board, you’d think that the movie score would be amazing, but compared to his other works on the likes of “Interstellar” and “The Dark Knight Rises” the soundtrack didn’t meet my expectations and I was left disappointed.  I was also disappointed by the fact that big actresses like Kate Winslet and Ashely Judd were left to supporting roles, and that Ashely had barley and screen time at all meaning her character was left undeveloped, therefore giving the illusion that her character was snotty and miserable, but if you had read the books, you would know that wasn’t the case.

I think the audience will be left impressed however, by the up and coming actress Shailene Woodley’s performance. She brings a fresh new angle to a leading female character, instead of playing the damsel in distress, she becomes a heroin, ignoring her boyfriend and doing what it takes to help save society.  Theo James portrays the brooding Four and doesn’t bring much to the character, instead sounding like a monotone ‘dude’ with a permanent scowl on his face.

No matter what we think of this film, people like it, and with a sequel already been and gone in cinemas, the third on its way, I can safely say this is in the top five of YA novel adaptations since “Twilight” and the recent hit “The Hunger Games”.