{"id":3344,"date":"2014-03-21T06:44:01","date_gmt":"2014-03-21T13:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3344"},"modified":"2014-03-22T06:59:48","modified_gmt":"2014-03-22T13:59:48","slug":"review-divergent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3344","title":{"rendered":"Review: DIVERGENT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Let\u2019s get this out of the way from the beginning: \u201cDivergent\u201d is not as good as \u201cThe Hunger Games.\u201d And it lacks the soap opera cheese of \u201cTwilight.\u201d In fact, it might be the flattest and most unengaging YA epic yet.<\/p>\n

Like a Great Illustrated Classics adaptation of a lesser comic book, \u201cDivergent\u201d delivers a dystopian plot with mechanical precision but lacks the nuance and art that usually marks outstanding source material. Not to tar Veronica Roth\u2019s best-seller, but I\u2019ve not heard a single avid YA reader rave about her strong writing. Instead, focus is often on the plot and the central theme, which by now is so well-known to fans of the genre that it will be difficult for a new writer to achieve Roth-like success in the future. Still Roth\u2019s series can\u2019t be shoved aside. She must be doing something right given her massive following and trilogy of best-sellers. Remember, critics sneered at JK Rowling\u2019s tomes and see where that ended up.<\/p>\n

\u201cDivergent\u201d is a post-apocalyptic tale. Following a great war, new societies evolved and the action here takes place in the walled city of Chicago. Inside a protective electrified barrier, order is maintained by dividing people into factions, each serving a particular purpose. Our hero, Tris (Shailene Woodley), is a member of humble ruling class but yearns to be a part of an adventurous faction of warriors charged with protecting their world. As she reaches the age of majority, Tris, will have to choose a faction. But will she make the right decision?<\/p>\n

There are two main problems with \u201cDivergent:\u201d 1. It is unengaging, and 2. The story is too simplistically presented and resolved.<\/p>\n

Unlike the best examples of the YA genre, director Neil Burger\u2019s adaptation of Roth\u2019s novel spends too much time introducing the plot elements and not enough time personalizing its heroine. Compare \u201cThe Hunger Games\u201d where time is taken to properly introduce Katniss (whose wonderful surname was \u201cEverdeen\u201d) and her family showing us a glimpse of what makes her sad and unfulfilled. In \u201cDivergent,\u201d Beatrice tells us in a narration all about her world. It is this lazy narration device that undercuts some of the suspense in that she\u2019s telling when the film should be showing.<\/p>\n

The shame is that Woodley and the rest of the cast are very capable actors and should be able to transfer emotions to the viewer. But I felt little as the plot mechanically marched forward. And the script never seems to give us an \u201cah, ha\u201d moment. Remember the epiphanies that made both \u201cHunger Games\u201d films so effective. Nothing, and I mean not one moment in \u201cDivergent\u201d comes close to matching the emotional intensity of \u201cThe Hunger Games.\u201d It is a film more interested in getting to the finish line than making us feel anything. \u201cDivergent\u201d starts cold and just seems to get colder.<\/p>\n

Also a disappointment is the simplistic way that this initial installment (one of a proposed trilogy) is presented and resolved. \u201cDivergent\u201d lacks credibility from start to finish. When Tris joins the warrior faction, her training is all one note\u2014lots of risk-taking and broad physicality with little strategic or sophisticated military training. The idea, I suppose, is for the faction to be made up of mindless brutes, but also, ones that carry weapons and roam the walled city with no restrictions. For example, in one military training exercise, Tris climbs a ferris wheel to gain better perspective. Her superior, Four (Theo James), who is training her, seems surprised by this obvious decision immediately recognizing that it is a good idea. Frustrated, it made me question Four\u2019s leadership. He apparently isn\u2019t very well trained. The film is replete with examples like this one eventually dumping us into a really weak concluding sequence that proves to be utterly embarrassing for Kate Winslet, who has to deliver some of the poorest dialogue of her illustrious career.<\/p>\n

For me, while watching \u201cDivergent,\u201d I spent too much time trying to reconcile leaps in logic. After excusing the Cliff\u2019s Notes political science setup, the viewer is expected to buy that this future world is one where energy seems to be in plentiful supply, and computers and other advanced technology are readily available. But it is also a sexless place where almost everyone is beautiful but are able to suppress their carnal impulses. At least, the \u201cTwilight\u201d films got away with gaps in logic by piling on ample helpings of soapy cheese. \u201cDivergent\u201d by contrast, plays everything straight and serious to a far-fetched fault.<\/p>\n

While fans will certainly embrace this initial outing, for \u201cDivergent\u201d to succeed as a franchise, it will have to shift its emphasis away from plot and focus more on character.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan tries to apply logic to a YA epic. Is he nuts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3344"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3352,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3344\/revisions\/3352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}