Poster of Divergent

Divergent

Action, Adventure, Mystery

Director: Neil Burger

Release Date: March 21, 2014

Where to Watch

I was going to skip Divergent because it received bad reviews, but a couple of friends encouraged me to watch it so I did. Divergent has all the elements that I like in a movie: kicking literal butt, a good moral, a futuristic dystopian society, oneiric elements, Nikita, Kate Winslet, who apparently has a mortgage or has to pay tuition for her kids. Because I haven’t read the books, I was a bit ata loss about the structure of the dystopian society, particularly the factions. I know that I would have been a Candor. I sniffed at the unsanitary aspect of the Choosing Ceremony-I hope that everyone got different knives. I enjoyed the under-explored plot twist involving Ashley Judd. Caleb was a forgettable one note. Someone spoiled what he will do in the future, and I was not even a little bit surprised. Fritz from Scandal is in it. I hope that under utilized Mekhi Phifer has a larger role in the future because he seems intriguing. I went from a world with zero Shailene Woodley to Shailene Woodley being everywhere. On a superficial note, I think that she looks better with dark black thick hair in White Bird in a Blizzard than in Divergent. She does a good job, but I don’t feel compelled to see her in every film that she ever made so Jennifer Lawrence can breathe a sigh of relief. Divergent felt more CW than like an epic film. It has pacing issues, but I got a zombie army. Divergent is a mediocre film that strives to be excellent and fails. If it has elements that you like, give it a chance otherwise wait and I’m sure that the CW will reboot it into something more palatable.

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