Following a war,
human society survives in a blocked-off Chicago, divided into five factions.
Young Tris (Woodley) has been raised among selfless Abnegation but, on testing,
discovers that she is 'Divergent' and a threat to the system. She joins the
action-loving Dauntless to find her own path.
In the
post-apocalyptic future of the Veronica Roth novel adapted here, the question,
"What is your greatest strength?" is no longer a job interview
stumper but the basis of an entire society. Five factions - Abnegation,
Candour, Amity, Dauntless and Erudite (consistent grammar apparently died with
civilisation) now comprise the population, and this compulsory segregation is
designed somehow to promote peace, despite an almost immediate sense that these
groups are poised for conflict. It's a set-up more successful as a philosophy
class hypothetical than a dramatic premise, but director Neil Burger does a
good job of papering over cracks that could have ruined his character study.
Our hero is
Shailene Woodley's as Beatrice prior, born in the Amish-like Abnegation faction
to selflessly serve others but who, we learn from voiceover, doesn't quite fit
in. It turns out that that she is 'Divergent', with an aptitude for three
factions. This is portrayed like a superpower, with Tris able to solve problems
that stump her faction mates, but it makes her a threat to the carefully
ordered system.
Tris soon joins
the Dauntless a group characterised by high-tech sportswear, a penchant for
whooping and a habit of jumping from fast objects and high buildings. There she
makes new friends, including hunky trainer Four (Theo James), and the film's
second act becomes a lengthy and violent training montage. But while Tris faces
a growing chance of discovery by scary Erudite leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet on
the sort of stern form that suggests she's the natural heir to Judi Dench),
trouble is brewing on a larger scale.
If you're
getting shades of The Hunger Games from all this the filmmakers will be
thrilled, because they're all-too-obviously trying to launch a similar
franchise with a tough heroine, solid action sequences and a world that might
credibly be shaken by a teenager. But while the dystopian, stratified societies
are superficially similar, Divergent has none of the cod-Roman familiarity of The
Hunger Games. There's more training than action - much of the film is concerned
with Tris' quest to move up her class rankings rather than grand questions of
politics - and on small human dramas Tris must negotiate. The location, the
real Chicago playing its digitally ruined self, gives it a scale it might
otherwise lack, even if the visuals are highly reminiscent of I Am Legend.
The film's great
strength is its cast, and Woodley in particular. Her attempts to negotiate the
pressures of friends, family and her own nature are understated and credible
even when she faces fantastical challenges, and like Jennifer Lawrence in The
Hunger Games she convinces as an action heroine. James stays just the right
side of brooding as the male lead, and more established actors - Winslet,
Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn as Tris' parents, Ray Stevenson as the Abnegation
leader and Maggie Q as, essentially, Basil Exposition - earn their day's pay in
the smaller supporting roles. Whether they will all get the sequel that it begs
for remains to be seen, but purely as a first chapter to something larger it's
an entertaining start.
I think the acting of the actor
and actress was great. they succeeded to make the film lover interest to
watched. Beside that, the story of “divergent” is unpredictable, but that’s
make us interest to watched. They have a good special effect. Actually when
Beatrice was in a test to decided the factio, and this the clip when Beatrice
was in a test.
Between that,
the angle of the camera was good. They use a slow motion when Beatrice jump
from the train on to a top of building, and the position off the camera was
correct. It makes the viewers believed that Beatrice is really jump from a
train to the building. This the picture of the clip. So I think this is a great
film to watch. There are a lot of moral message to learn.