"Divergent" (2014) MOVIE REVIEW

Note: I have only read the first 5 chapters of the book of the same title by Veronica Roth. That review is for another time. This review, however, is for now. I will not talk about inaccuracies, but instead I will be reviewing this as a movie.

In a post-apocalyptic world, Chicago, Illinois is fenced off from the rest of the world. inside the fence, a society is made. By keeping order in a system, children at the age of 16 take a test to see which faction they are made for and they must choose one faction to live in the rest of their life (think the houses of Hogwarts from "Harry Potter" and the sorting hat). However, on rare occasions, the test doesn't work for someone, the results inconclusive to tell where the 16 would go in life. This is called "divergent". Beatrice (Shailene Woodley) is a divergent and she must keep that secret or else the government would execute her, marking her as a threat to the system.

Constantly compared to the "Hunger Games", "Divergent" is another teen phenomenon. It takes the basic steps of a movie, adds thrills, action, and plot twists, but doesn't take the extra step to add the depth the movie has potential for. I felt the movie's story was shallow, the concept slightly explained but not enough to truly understand the environment. Perhaps these problems will be addressed in the sequel.

Don't be fooled, though. The movie is still enjoyable, just not going as far as it could have gone.

2/5 Stars

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