Review: Divergent

Divergent is set in a dystopian future in a ruined Chicago after an unknown war that left the land and people desolated. The exposition leading to the meat of the movie is short, sweet, and to the point letting the viewer to know exactly where and when the story is taking place. I really enjoyed the explanations of the different factions which made this viewer think of which one he would belong to.

Shailene Woodley, who played Beatris or Tris as she later named herself, played the part wonderfully. Woodley's actions, expressions, physicality, and action is true to the character she portrays. Theo James, who was cast as Four, plays both tough and tender simultaneously beautifully. You couldn’t ask for a better performance. In addition, Jai Courtney, who is Eric in the filmm had the most perfect features both physically and acting wise to portray his character. The rest of the cast really rounded out the movie to be smooth and working well.

I was happy to see the heroine in this movie, compared to the other dystopian Young Adult genre movie(s) Hunger Games, not actually minding hurting or killing people. Equally impressive were scenes where females fought males. That is not really seen a lot in movies so it was a nice change of pace. Having not read the books, I didn’t know how this first film was supposed to end. I was happy it ended the way it did though.

There were a few drawbacks. Namely the cliche montage training scenes. Also, I felt there could have been a few times where the movie could have ended which would have made the viewer to come back to see how the rest of the story ended. Another thing that I wondered about was the level of violence and blood in a PG-13 movie. So, be wary of taking your young children to see this.

Overall, there was a great cohesiveness with how the film was made. It really felt complete and left nothing to wonderment save for how the next two movies will progress.

DISCLAIMER: The reviewer is from Chicago, so it may have made the movie more enjoyable.