Plot
In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she’s Divergent
and won’t fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris
and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous
before it’s too late.
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| 20 March 2014 (Singapore) |
| Quality | BRRip 720p
BluRay 720p |
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BluRay. x264.YIFY,
BluRay X264.mikromkv
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| Action | Adventure | Romance | Sci-FI | |
| Ratings |  7,4/10 from 73.303 users |
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| imdb.com/title/tt1840309/ |
| Director | Neil Burger |
| Starcast | Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet |
| FansPage |  | FB Groups |
| Country: USA
Language: English |
Review
Of
course comparisons are going to be made about “Divergent.” With the
monumental success of Y.A. adaptations such as “The Hunger Games” and
“Twilight,” it’s a given that studios would be hungry to bring Veronica
Roth’s trilogy to the big screen, as it contains all the necessary
elements to tempt young audiences into theaters. It’s derivative work,
but what’s surprising about “Divergent” is how bland it is. Handing
material flavored with sci-fi, action, and romance to a team of
filmmakers and actors with little experience in the genre mash-up, the
movie ends up flat and repetitive, unable to acquire the epic stance it
dearly wants to achieve. It’s more than just bad timing, the feature
simply doesn’t have the cinematic intensity necessary to launch yet
another arc of careworn heroism set in a merciless world of government
control.
In the future, the world has been crippled by nuclear war. Out of the rubble, humanity has been reborn as a tightly ordered society split into various factions: Abnegation (selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honesty), Dauntless (fearless), and Erudite (intelligence). As children mature, they are subjected to a test that identifies their rightful place, allowing them to make a choice of destiny. Beatrice (Shailene Woodley), the daughter of two Abnegation representatives (Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn), comes out of her analysis as Divergent, with a personal drive that goes beyond the factions, unable to be controlled. Keeping her true nature a secret, Beatrice elects to join Dauntless, quickly raising the curiosity of leader Four (Theo James) and the ire of instructor Eric (Jai Courtney). Training to become an officer of futureworld Chicago law, Beatrice soon learns more about her abilities, triggering interest from Erudite officer Jeanine (a dead-eyed Kate Winslet, cashing a paycheck). Struggling to secure her place in this ruthless faction, Beatrice finds warmth from Four, earning his trust as the ultimate plan for Dauntless is revealed, forcing the young woman into a revolution.
Neil Burger is the director of “Divergent,” helmer of hits such as “Limitless” and “The Illusionist.” There’s nothing in Burger’s resume that suggests he could pull off a movie of this size, but perhaps his comfort with actors won him the gig, leaving the demands of expanse to visual effects, score (by Junkie XL), and future tech and costuming. From the outset, the picture displays a fatigue with its homework, tasked with establishing the bizarre rules of this society, with factions ruling the city, while the “factionless” are treated as second-class citizens, left to rot as homeless, making that ultimate fate the motivator for the characters to participate in such tenuously organized rule. Details of personality control and examples of law enforcement aren’t provided, but the production manages to communicate the basics of this new Chicago, with compelling scenes of daily business, watching the factions rub up against one another. Anything more than a surface appreciation of the particulars isn’t allowed, as Burger seems preoccupied with keeping Beatrice front and center, trusting the character’s wide-eyed entrance into faction testing is enough to wow an audience likely on the hunt for more defined boundaries.
Following Beatrice into the Dauntless underworld, we watch the introduction process, where the pledges are toughened and tested, forced to fight one another and perfect their skills with weaponry and iciness. A major portion of the movie studies Beatrice’s difficulty with assimilation, learning foreign concepts of combat and confrontation as she develops into daredevil, sprinting around the city on the prowl for things to climb and innocents to threaten. To the picture’s credit, nothing in “Divergent” is as silly as it sounds. Burger is able to keep absurdity to a dull roar, though most of the supporting performances, with their permo-sneers and uncomfortable piercings, tease unintentional laughs.
Missing in the early going and most of the effort is pace. A simple offering of forward momentum doesn’t interest Burger, who lingers on trivial details and repetitive training sequences, making a film that’s already 140 minutes in length feel twice as long. Considering the elaborate set-up and numerous characters itching to lay into one another, there’s surprisingly no tension to be found, with scene after scene falling asleep, in desperate need of voltage that typically accompanies such dystopian panic.
Part of the blame belongs with Burger, who doesn’t have the killer instinct necessary to sell a gradual rumbling of unrest, bumbling action sequences with choppy editing and static movement, clearly overwhelmed with visual demands. And there’s trouble with Woodley’s performance, which is crushingly one-dimensional, failing to articulate the transformative hero’s arc necessary to such entertainment. Beatrice shows little growth as she moves from mouse to revolutionary -- Woodley misses a major opportunity to create a dynamic physical presence that matches the character’s Divergent awakening. Beatrice opens the picture a frightened girl and ends the picture a frighten girl with iffy weapons training. And the love story between Beatrice and Four is stillborn, with intimacies shoehorned into the story to satisfy trends, not play into an organic growth of intimacy.
There isn’t an obvious cliffhanger ending to “
Divergent,” but there are two more books from Roth awaiting adaptation. Of course, there’s hope the aspiring franchise will be able to get its act to together and find focus for a second chapter. If “
The Hunger Games” could overcome a lackluster opening installment and nail a rousing sequel, so can “Divergent.” However, for this to happen, perhaps Burger should consider a diet of classic sci-fi and actions films to help inspire a proper widescreen commotion, as Roth’s cliched imagination could use a healthy amount of cinematic stimulants.