Divergent
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet,
Jai Courtney, Zoe Kravitz, Maggie Q
Director: Neil Burger
143 mins
Now that the Twilight franchise has largely disappeared from popular
consciousness, some new ‘Young Adult’ novel adaptations would appear to be needed
at the starting blocks to pull in the relevant box office cash. Following Ender's
Game,
we now have Divergent, which showcases Shailene Woodley, a potential new female
star in a similar vein to Jennifer Lawrence. Sadly however, and despite
directing duties being performed by Neal Burger (The Illusionist), Divergent doesn’t quite make the
grade.
Veronica Roth's science fiction novel sets the scene in a future where a new society has sprung up in a post-apocalyptic Chicago surrounded by a enormously large fence. The remains of the Windy City are divided into five factions: the altruistic Abnegation, the placid Amity, the honest Candor, the heroic Dauntless and the logical Erudite. Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior (Woodley) is the daughter of two Abnegation individuals (Tony Goldwyn, Ashley Judd) and finds her Choosing Day is rapidly approaching. There, she will be tested in order to ascertain her conformity levels towards one of the aforementioned factions. Whatever the result, she may still choose which faction she feels she truly belongs to. Tris' test results though, prove to be problematic, as she appears to be valid for Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite. In other words, she's Divergent, a troublesome, independent type. Tris decides to hide her results and go for Dauntless, the protector outfit and the group where she’s most likely to attract the attention of Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet), the Erudite leader trying to reform things in her favour. The film is full of elements derived from such as Logan's Run, Starship Troopers and offers a background against which the likeable and dynamic Woodley plays out the usual ‘Young Adult’ fantasy stuff about finding your voice and deciding to stand out from the overwhelming peer pressure in order to conform.
"Well, if your friends jumped off a bridge, does that mean you would, too?" say many parents to their offspring. So Tris goes from being one of those lemmings—in this case jumping off Chicago's moving elevated trains just to get into the Dauntless base below, (which is an otherwise impregnable gaff), to enlisting her Divergent trainer, smoothie ‘Four’ (Theo James) whom she clearly fancies something rotten, into her efforts to stop Erudite from destroying the Abnegation team. There is also a hallucinogenic psychological test used to filter out the most personal fears of those being initiated into Dauntless, and seen on a screen through Tris' eyes. The engaging Woodley does well in conveying the emotions felt by Tris when in danger, a response that is totally in keeping with her character's emergence into the wide world of the grown-ups.
It’s ultimately disappointing that Woodley's talents are wasted here, as despite some powerful moments, Roth's allegory feels didactic and forceful, which is never a good thing in a science fiction film. Even more so is the authoritarian society message which is little more than a tiresome rehash of many similar stories already out there. Possibly this was deliberately done in order to manufacture a franchise (as it’s based upon part of Roth’s trilogy) – but this route could prove to be futile if a series doesn’t get the commission nod. For a film so forcefully promoting nonconformity, Divergent is sadly about as bland and run of the mill as it’s possible to be.
Veronica Roth's science fiction novel sets the scene in a future where a new society has sprung up in a post-apocalyptic Chicago surrounded by a enormously large fence. The remains of the Windy City are divided into five factions: the altruistic Abnegation, the placid Amity, the honest Candor, the heroic Dauntless and the logical Erudite. Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior (Woodley) is the daughter of two Abnegation individuals (Tony Goldwyn, Ashley Judd) and finds her Choosing Day is rapidly approaching. There, she will be tested in order to ascertain her conformity levels towards one of the aforementioned factions. Whatever the result, she may still choose which faction she feels she truly belongs to. Tris' test results though, prove to be problematic, as she appears to be valid for Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite. In other words, she's Divergent, a troublesome, independent type. Tris decides to hide her results and go for Dauntless, the protector outfit and the group where she’s most likely to attract the attention of Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet), the Erudite leader trying to reform things in her favour. The film is full of elements derived from such as Logan's Run, Starship Troopers and offers a background against which the likeable and dynamic Woodley plays out the usual ‘Young Adult’ fantasy stuff about finding your voice and deciding to stand out from the overwhelming peer pressure in order to conform.
"Well, if your friends jumped off a bridge, does that mean you would, too?" say many parents to their offspring. So Tris goes from being one of those lemmings—in this case jumping off Chicago's moving elevated trains just to get into the Dauntless base below, (which is an otherwise impregnable gaff), to enlisting her Divergent trainer, smoothie ‘Four’ (Theo James) whom she clearly fancies something rotten, into her efforts to stop Erudite from destroying the Abnegation team. There is also a hallucinogenic psychological test used to filter out the most personal fears of those being initiated into Dauntless, and seen on a screen through Tris' eyes. The engaging Woodley does well in conveying the emotions felt by Tris when in danger, a response that is totally in keeping with her character's emergence into the wide world of the grown-ups.
It’s ultimately disappointing that Woodley's talents are wasted here, as despite some powerful moments, Roth's allegory feels didactic and forceful, which is never a good thing in a science fiction film. Even more so is the authoritarian society message which is little more than a tiresome rehash of many similar stories already out there. Possibly this was deliberately done in order to manufacture a franchise (as it’s based upon part of Roth’s trilogy) – but this route could prove to be futile if a series doesn’t get the commission nod. For a film so forcefully promoting nonconformity, Divergent is sadly about as bland and run of the mill as it’s possible to be.
