Divergent

                Much like how “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” gained popularity, having studios adapt another adult book series to gain recognition, it’s now “The Hunger Games” turn to take over the spotlight. With 2013, we had “Ender’s Game” take a crack at it, but sadly due to the author’s political views, the film was a bomb at the box office, so it looks like there won’t be a sequel. Now for this spring, we have another possible candidate to pass on the torch, Veronica Roth’s “Divergent.” Now keep in mind, I haven’t read the book, so I’ll only be looking at this as a standalone film only.

                “Divergent” tells the story of Tris Prior, a girl who lives in a post-apocalyptic world, where humans are tested to be part of a certain district in life. Those districts are Abnegation (selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (truthful), Erudite (intelligent) and Dauntless (brave). Tris comes from a family in the Abnegation district, but has had interest in what goes on with the Dauntless. Because of this, when she takes the test, she comes out as inconclusive, meaning she’s a Divergent, one that refuses the system. However, nobody knows about this, except for her tester, and decides to choose Dauntless as her path. Now she goes on to prove she can be a Dauntless, or she’ll be left to the slums with no redeems.

                Now, the big question is did I like this movie? Well…surprisingly, yes. Is a masterpiece? Hell no, but we’ll get to that soon. What really works for the film here, much like “Ender’s Game,” is her trying to fit in with the other Dauntless member rookies, which is something that we don’t really get that much from these kinds of stories. We tend to see films where a protagonist is a special force that exists in this world and then do the whole “savior is powerful” cliché many times over; but here, we see her just trying to fit in, just so she can live a life she chose on her own free will. She could have easily picked out a simple life with her parents, but her choice of going as a warrior, despite not having any fighting knowledge, added to the investment of the film, as we see Tris turn into this calculative fighter. It actually felt like I was watching “Captain America” which had similar elements to it. In fact, the Divergent plot doesn’t really come into true play until the third act, so there’s time to develop the characters, rather than just one idea.

                Shailene Woodley plays Tris, and she does a great job in this film. Her reactions and determination in the film really set the mood and tone for the kind of character she was playing. Not only that, but she actually does well for someone in an action film for the first time. Woodley has really proven herself as a great young actress, especially in her previous performances in “The Spectacular Now” and “The Descendents.” I really do wish they kept her as Mary Jane Watson in “The Amazing Spiderman” series, even though she won’t be in the second film. We also Theo James as Four, a Dauntless veteran and Tris’s mentor/possible lover; while there is a romance between the two, it doesn’t really come into play until the near end, but it only happens because they’re chemistry and that they’re both Divergent hiding. He does add to the film, unlike how most romances between student and mentor are just tacked on without much reason. I actually did have some investment in the two, and I really wanted to see much more of it. We also get some good supporting from other cast members, such as Tony Goldwyn as Tris’s father, Ray Stevenson as the president of the city, Kate Winslet as a business organizer and villain, and even from up-and-coming actors like Miles Teller, Zoe Kravits, and Ben Lloyd-Hughes.

The one actor I wasn’t 100% about was Jai Courtney as the head of Dauntless. For one, he’s the clichéd dick leader (named Eric), and his performance is just SO WOODEN. I mean, if you thought he was pathetic in “A Good Day to Die Hard,” just take a look at the guy here. Whenever he was onscreen, he really brought the film down. Not only that, the biggest problem I have with the film is that the third act was a DRAG to get through, and it got really boring. For a film that’s two hours and twenty minutes, you could have easily cut a half hour from the film, and it would have been fine. It made the film which was good, to being less than what it could have been. But does that make the film bad? No, just not as good as it could have been.

The film was directed by Neil Burger, who also directed “Limitless” with Bradley Cooper and Robert de Niro. That film showcased his talents to a strong extent, with its action, story, and characters. I can see bits and pieces of it in this film, here and there, but not too much. I do want to see this film get a sequel though, so I can see much more of this world and its characters.

Overall, “Divergent” is an okay film to watch. It’s not the best, but I do wish to see more of it, if they know how to improve some of the little details. It has a good cast, some entertaining action, and doesn’t go to some of the old clichés we’ve seen time and time again.

Rating: 6/10