DIVERGENT MOVIE REVIEW
20th March 2014 3:00pm Published By Arnold Johnson
Got to see Divergent in advance here in Nairobi and I must say I’m totally impressed. And now I’m doing my Divergent Movie Review.
There’s a lot of things that made Divergent stick out for me in this sub-genre of strong female leads with boyfriends and romance and violence. One is the fact that they chose to make Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) a tougher lead as opposed to a more pathetic character like say Twilight’s Bella Swan.
There’s a lot of things that made Divergent stick out for me in this sub-genre of strong female leads with boyfriends and romance and violence. One is the fact that they chose to make Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) a tougher lead as opposed to a more pathetic character like say Twilight’s Bella Swan.
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Secondly the amount of action (not violence) compared to other movies falling under the same category like Hunger Games. This one will really get you going and cheering for the leads. The star power here is also impressive. You’ve got Woodley, fresh from her role in “The Spectacular Now”, there’s also Theo James who plays the enigmatic Four, there’s also Ashley Judd, Ray Stevenson, Jai Courtney and Kate Winslet.
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You don’t have to read the book to actually enjoy Divergent. Just make sure that you catch the opening sequence because that’ll explain a whole lot of things about this utopian world where we first meet the different factons. The factions themselves are interesting enough you’ve got Abnegation, Candor, Amity, Erudite and Dauntless which I’m sure casual fans will start liking. Won’t blame you, the movie is pretty good so it’s easy to identify with these things. Besides, Harry Potter’s ended already so we need to find new ‘niches’ where we belong.
Action and amounts of fighting is generous here so if you’re an action film buff, you’ll still enjoy this. Just don’t expect explosions here, this isn’t a Michael Bay movie. Visuals are also solid in fact there are some moments here in the film that you just want to tell the projectionist to pause the film so you could soak up the scenery. For a Utopian society that’s survived a massive war, the world in Divergent is pretty easy to look at.
On the downside, you’ll probably go say “I’ve seen this before’ for some of the elements in the movie. The walled city has been done to death already but this one feels like a Western version of the manga series “Shingeki No Kyojin”. Those awkward moments with Tris also felt like Eren Jaeger and his flimsy attempts to become top of his class. That and so many more.
Finally, much props to the chemistry and the way the story panned out for the lovers Tobias and Tris in the film. It’s way normal than how Peeta and Katniss started out and no way near as corny as Twilight’s Bella and Edward.
Finally, much props to the chemistry and the way the story panned out for the lovers Tobias and Tris in the film. It’s way normal than how Peeta and Katniss started out and no way near as corny as Twilight’s Bella and Edward.
Verdict: The movie is a great experience and a good way to enter the world/ novel of Divergent. It”s got a couple of chuckles here and there. Visually, the film and it’s stars are eye candy too and the story is engaging. In fact, rid all the science fiction elements here and you already have a solid story. Everything else? Cherry on the top.
Thanks to this movie for instilling a sense of urgency to read the next two novels Insurgent and Allegiant
Thanks to this movie for instilling a sense of urgency to read the next two novels Insurgent and Allegiant