Summit Entertainment went hunting for a Young Adult franchise while
their raging success with the “
Twilight” movies was winding down. They
found “
Divergent,” the first book in a literary trilogy from author
Veronica Roth. Released in 2014 with an omnipresent marketing campaign,
working its similarities to “
The Hunger Games” in full, “Divergent” went
on to become one of those strange films that, while financially
successful, didn’t inspire a feverish reaction with the public. Trying
to extend beginner’s luck, the producers have gone ahead with the
sequel, “Insurgent,” hoping that now, with introductions out of the way,
Roth’s dystopian world can achieve a sense of hostility and blistering
action that was sorely lacking from the previous chapter.
On the run after confronting Jeanine (Kate Winslet) in her Erudite
compound, Tris (Shailene Woodley), Four (Theo James), Peter (Miles
Teller), and Caleb (Ansel Elgort) have settled into life with the Amity
faction, deciding that to reclaim control of the city, they must kill
the evil leader. On their tail is Dauntless enforcer Eric (Jai
Courtney), who’s been tasked with finding a true Divergent to help
Jeanine open a special box containing data that promises to answer all
questions about the dead zone world beyond perimeter walls. Attempting
to persuade Candor, and their leader Jack (Daniel Dae Kim), to join
their cause, the gang ends up in Factionless, with Four’s mother, Evelyn
(Naomi Watts), eager to merge forces and remove Jeanine from power.
Realizing she’s the only hope for the future, Tris subjects herself to
Jeanine’s “sims,” digital trials that challenge her mind, spirit, and
brawn, acting as keys to open the info box.
With this fresh chapter in the “Divergent” series comes a new director,
finding Robert Schwentke (“Flightplan,” “R.I.P.D.”) taking over for Neil
Burger. Looking to shake off the staleness that pinned the first
installment to the ground, Schwentke ups the action for “Insurgent,”
which, for the first hour, is something of a manhunt movie, catching up
with Tris and Four as they scramble to find a safe haven, disrupting the
daily routine of Amity, Candor, and Factionless in their quest to
collect a few allies. Eric is in hot pursuit, and his security forces
are in full shoot-first mode, also armed with a special implant that
allows Jeanine to control victims, which she uses to stage suicides as a
way to lure Tris back to the city for her sim test. “Insurgent” is a
darker picture, more violent and surprising with character deaths.
However, the screenplay can’t break free of repetition, watching the
opening hour recycle arrival and evasion scenes excessively, making
Tris’s eventual surrender inevitable, not alarming.
“Insurgent” sluggishly pushes relationships along, stoking the fire
between Tris and Four, and the effort toys with faction misadventures,
greeting the overacting punks in Factionless, while time with Candor
provides the picture’s best scenes, thanks to Kim’s refreshingly
measured supporting performance. Sadly, Schwentke proves himself more
adept with breaking glass and spent bullets than with any type of drama,
finding a truth serum confessional scene crudely staged and pointless,
while Caleb’s subplot of wavering factional allegiance turns the
critical character into a puppy dog, leaving his position in the plot a
distracting question mark. “Insurgent” creates a tremendous amount of
noise, but little is truly accomplished, leaving the movie to endless
scenes of Tris doubting herself, Four barely containing his anger, and
Jeanine pecking away on a tablet, displaying her impatience with the sim
process. Even with the advantage of diving straight into the thick of
the plot, the sequel somehow manages to rival “Divergent” in flavorless
encounters, far too concerned with pushing major revelations to the next
feature.
Also troubling “Insurgent” is Woodley, who’s miscast as Tris, coming off
weak and easily toppled when the story is explicitly about the
character’s growth as a warrior. Completely unconvincing with stunt work
and foot chases, Woodley also stumbles with intimate moments, unable to
summon Tris’s shredded state of mind as she contemplates her role in
the death of her parents and the city’s toxic upheaval. She’s a
first-year Girl Scout surrounded by troop leaders, making action scenes
stiff and tedious, only truly convincing in one “Superman III”-style
showdown that pits Tris against her evil self inside the sim.
There’s an obvious set-up for the final chapter (currently threatened to
be divided into two movies), but any promise for a creative evolution
has been torched by the lethargy of “Insurgent,” which is basically
“Divergent” with a bigger body count, more convenient weaponry, and
shorter hair on Tris, which is actually given more screentime than most
subplots.