Divergent **½ (2014, Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jai Courtney) – Movie Review

Shailene Woodley stars as Tris who learns she’s Divergent and won’t fit in to any one group in a futuristic Chicago. It’s 110 years after a war, and society is divided into five factions that represent a different virtue. Tris has either got no virtues or all of them. She’s unclassifiable! Anyway, what she is is a secret that, if revealed, would mean certain death.

In this first film adapted from Veronica Roth’s dystopian young-adult (ie teenage girls) book series, teenagers have to decide if they want to stay in their faction or switch to another for the rest of their lives. Tris leaves her nice parents (Ashley Judd, Tony Goldwyn) and brother (Ansel Elgort, Tommy Ross in Carrie) and joins a faction, which she shouldn’t – she’s a Divergent, remember?

Then Tris and her fellow faction-members then have to endure a competitive initiation under the firm rule of Eric (Jai Courtney) to live out their choice, undergoing severe physical and psychological tests that transform them. When Tris discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, she and the mysterious, hunky but troubled Four (Theo James) must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it’s too late. (Maybe he took the name Four because Thor was already taken.)

This Hunger Games wannabee doesn’t pose much threat to the reigning young-adult movie franchise. Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss doesn’t have to worry about the opposition.

Woodley is OK, but that’s all, on the acting and action fronts. You never really believe in her or put your credibility into the idea that she could actually do any of this stuff. She tries to look grim and act tough, but some big bloke could just come along and splat her. The whole movie is built around her flimsy frame and it’s too much for anyone to support.

It’s a bad surprise that the film looks grungy with drearily dark-hued visuals that are a turn-off, and that the sets look cheap and that the CGI effects are ordinary. It has a $85million budget, which is kind of low for this sort of movie. Maybe it needed another $50million spent on it, like Noah has. But then that doesn’t look great either.

The unoriginal-feeling screenplay by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor is plodding, with ropey dialogue that gives the actors a hard time. Theo James is uber-handsome, but has the chick’s role in the movie, just the mostly passive love object, but the eye candy is a helpful distraction. His tentative love scene with Tris is the most risible scene in the film. Just when you think some hot action’s coming, Tris says she wants to cool it. Boring!

The excellent Courtney isn’t seen at his best here as a leering, tattooed villain, so that must be the script too. Those fine actors Judd and Goldwyn are completely wasted then totally wasted. But then you can’t expect grown-ups to be properly treated in a teen movie, can you? To be fair, Elgort is equally badly treated. A clunky Kate Winslet plays her role of evil faction boss Jeanine like she’s a Bond villain, but she needs to camp it up a lot more, and have lots more fun with it. Miles Teller’s nasty Peter is a one-note grim role and it defeats him.

It’s taken a fortune in the US, so it looks to be critic proof, and part II is guaranteed. Let’s call this one a dress rehearsal for a hopefully much improved sequel.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

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