Movie review: The Divergent Series: Insurgent

Hello!

So, last night, I went to see the second installment in The Divergent Series – Insurgent and this is going to be my review.Enjoy!

First of all, I would like to give a spoiler warning because I might spoil some details of the film in the review. Still here? Let’s go then.

IMDb summary: Beatrice Prior must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart with the help from others on her side.

As a young adult myself and a fan of dystopian genre, I was really excited about this film. I have read all the books by Veronica Roth about 2 years ago, so, going into this film, I knew what was going to happen. Still, since it’s been quite a long time since I’ve read the original material and I have read a lot of books since then, I couldn’t remember all the details of the story, so I got to experience everything once again, like for the very first time.

Having said that, before I did this review, I reread the plot of the book at The Divergent Wikia page and realized that I would have probably been surprised by the plot of the film even if I had remember the book’s plot because they changed a lot of stuff.

I am usually really open-minded when it comes to book-to-movie adaptations and the changes they make but this time I had a few problems.

To begin with, they left out a lot of characters. Marcus had nothing to do in this film, Tori was also left out for the bigger part and even though they gave Tori’s twist to Evelyn, she was also an undeveloped character. In addition, other characters like Shauna, Lynn, Edward were cut. Christina was forgotten and Uriah didn’t really stick out to me.

Moreover, they changed the story a lot. The whole box and the test story-line was completely different than it was in the book (though I really liked it – not more than the book version but they were on an equal level at least). The book also had more democracy in it: more trials, more meeting and, in the film, they were just straight up killing each other. However, I really liked that they didn’t shy away from the killing in a PG-13 film. The books had a lot of deaths in them (a lot of unnecessary ones, especially the 3rd book – book readers will understand:)) and the movie should portray the cruelty of that wold correctly.  Visuals

You can definitely tell that they spent 110 million dollars on this film because it looks spectacular. I immensely enjoyed all the simulations and the way they were realized. Those particles looked extremely cool. The whole world building and Jeanine’s holographs were also realistic and interesting. I just wish they hadn’t spoiled all the cool Tris’s simulation scenes in the trailers and teasers.

Character by character (acting)

I believe that the 4 main young actors did a great ob. I am a huge Shailene Woodley fan (the whole post about her) and really like her in a role of Tris. I also dig the new haircut: it makes her look more edgy and sophisticated at the same time. Theo James was also good in his role, though, he didn’t have much to do. On the other hand, he will have a bigger role in the 3 and 4 films if they stick to the Allegiant’s (book’s) plot.

Miles Teller was also very good in the role of Peter. I am also a huge fan of his (post about him) and really liked his characters changes of heart. Ansel Elgort – also a favorite of mine (TFIOS!). However, his story-line was a bit weak and the betrayal wasn’t really realized properly.

The adults: Kate Winslet as Jeanine was okay. I wish she would have done more with this role. Evelyn played by Naomi Watts wasn’t realized properly too as I have already mentioned. I wish they would have spent more time with Tori played by Maggie Q because she is one of my favorite characters. The only adult character I really liked was Daniel Dae Kim’s Jack King – the leader of the Candor.

Themes

The dystopian genre always explores the same themes: humanity’s self destruction, society’s division into groups and the cost of rebellion. Interestingly, this particular series also dells deeper into psychological issues of the main character: the ability to forgive oneself and be at peace with oneself. I really like when big Hollywood block-busters have some heart in them.

My favorite quote was said by Evelyn: “I am factionless because I don’t belong to any faction and you are a divergent because you belong to too many” (sorry if I couldn’t remember it word by word). It gives a nice perspective on the differences and ,at the same time, similarities of the people. No matter how different we all are, we are all outsiders of society. There is no inside circle.

All in all, I enjoyed the film but it was far from perfect. Next year, we will be getting Allegiant Part 1 and then Part 2 the year after that. I wish they would have stayed more faithful to the book while making the 2nd film and changed the 3rd book’s story-line but I really doubt that that will happen.

Trailer: Insurgent trailer

Rate: 4/5

Photos: Screenshots form the trailer, poster – LIONSGATE.