Divergent Review

Divergent (2014)

Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet
Director: Neil Burger
Country: USA
Genre: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
Official Site: Here

Editor’s Notes: Divergent opens in wide release today, March 21st.

Neil Buger director of The Illusionist, directs this adaptation of Veronica Roth’s novel, Divergent. Divergent is set in a dystopian future Chicago that is divided into five factions: Amity (peaceful), Abnegation (selfless), Dauntless (brave), Candor (honest) and Erudite (intelligent). At sixteen all citizens have to choose which side they believe they belong in according to their most important personal virtues.  Our protagonist Beatrice (Shailene Woodley) learns she is Divergent, meaning she has all five qualities. Divergents are feared and immediately eliminated by the society. Beatrice surprises her Abnegation family by joining Dauntless. She changes her name to Tris and tries to fit into to her chosen faction without getting caught.

Organically decayed buildings are surrounded by desert and a bit of lush nature beyond Chicago’s walls. It’s in stark contrast to the sleek and sterile world of the Erudites. 

I managed to navigate through the story despite not having read the novels being familiar with The Hunger Games trilogy. I am not sure if anyone who isn’t a fan of this series or of young adult novels would understand the premise from the get go though. A lot of the story is explained in overly long patches in between action sequences. When it wasn’t drawn out, the story telling was muddled and convoluted, revealing several borrowed young adult source tropes, all of them repeatedly overused.  When Tris voices, “I’m Divergent!” it’s no big reveal. It seemed like everyone in the film already knew that too.

Alwin H. Küchler’s cinematography was one of the strengths of the film. Organically decayed buildings are surrounded by desert and a bit of lush nature beyond Chicago’s walls. It’s in stark contrast to the sleek and sterile world of the Erudites.

The audience’s attention is kept through Küchler’s lens (previously used in Sunshine and Hanna), portraying interesting visuals keeping viewers’ eyes rapt while this two and a half hour film dragged on.

Shailene Woodley played Tris embodied the precociousness and naivety of her character. Tris was an easily sympathetic character, but Woodley’s work here added a fire that could have been extinguished by a lesser actress. Theo James (as the love interest, Four), while giving an assumed angst to his portrayal, still lacked depth and a connection with Woodley. Ashley Judd and Kate Winslet were the big names here, but weren’t used as much as they could have been. In fact, most of the characters around Woodley were either props or a means to keep the film going.

 Tris was an easily sympathetic character, but Woodley’s work here added a fire that could have been extinguished by a lesser actress. 

It bears to reiterate that the film is visually stunning and I believe that is due to teaming up of Küchler and Buger. Buger’s The Illusionist was seamlessly weaved through its locations and eclectic casting. It was brilliant mise-en-scène. Where Divergent suffers is in the unraveling of its plot. Reading a few write-ups by fans I gather the books are flawed in the same way. This film could have done with a bit of a trim and a denser means of giving the audience the meat of the story without burgeoning the script with it. Maybe Judd and Winslet could have been given that duty to a greater benefit of the film. It’s hard to say. If the source material is problematic, it takes a deft hand (and a great editor) to translate the book to film and perhaps a bit more time to fix its flaws.

Divergent is entertaining in its action moments and for a while it had me wanting to know more about the Veronica Roth books. Berger has already said that he will not be directing the sequel Insurgent.  Hopefully, a new chemistry can be found to save the entertaining value that lies somewhere in this trilogy.