In a society in which social roles are rigidly defined and unalterable destined for prosperity or doomed to fail? How long can a person suppress his or her true nature before it breaks free? These are the questions at the center of Divergent, the latest movie adaptation of a YA bestseller. Based on the books by Veronica Roth, Divergent is a dystopian adventure story which, much like The Hunger Games, is intelligent enough to entertain fans of the book as well as general audiences. The film is not just a vehicle for the “greatest hits” of the books (see The Twilight Saga) to placate obsessive fans. It succeeds as a genuine work of cinema.
Set in a future maybe a few hundred years from now, Divergent features a society – located within a walled city that was once Chicago – in which every citizen is a part of a faction based on their personality and propensities. This is a highly segregated world wherein people do not move from faction to faction and are discouraged from even associating with those outside their sect. Once someone chooses their faction, they are restricted from being anything else (unless they want to become one of the factionless).
Our protagonist is Tris (Shailene Woodley), a girl who is about to make the biggest decision of her life: which faction of society will she join? Unlike other young men and women her age, though, the results of the test which should have determined her appropriate faction were inconclusive. She’s Divergent, meaning she has characteristics of multiple factions, something which is considered dangerous. She chooses to leave the Abnegation (selfless givers) faction in which she was raised, instead joining Dauntless, the daredevil protectors of the city whose freedom holds endless appeal for Tris.
Through her training, she is pushed physically and mentally, discovering she is stronger than she could have imagined. Her trainer, Four (Theo James), sees something in her and guides her through the challenges she faces while also shielding her from Eric (Jai Courtney), a cruel and possibly dangerous adversary for Tris. As she trains, she also discovers that the Erudite (intellect) faction has begun making life much more difficult for Abnegation. As tensions escalate, Tris has to choose whether to be loyal to her faction or protect her family.
Divergent succeeds as a movie because, again like Hunger Games, it takes itself and its audience seriously. Divergent is a fun, entertaining and clever movie that strives to be more than just a money-making machine for the Hollywood studio. Director Neil Burger (Limitless, The Illusionist) crafts a visually distinct world which is unsettlingly similar to our own. Chicago, for instance, is easily identifiable – the buildings, the river, Navy Pier – but it is a shell of its former self. Society, too, is very familiar, but their horrid caste system is grotesque and perverse. To his credit, Burger forgoes CGI effects whenever he can (not common in today’s blockbusters). The set and production design is beautiful with very subtle nods to the futuristic world in which the film takes place. The costumes are not ostentatiously futuristic, but they are dissimilar enough to denote that time has passed.
The script was adapted by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor. The duo does an excellent job of keeping the script as tight as possible and moving the story along at a rapid pace. The film is long (almost two and a half hours), but that is mainly a result of all the world-building that is necessitated by Roth’s book. The first 20 minutes is extremely heavy on exposition, but in the hands of Daugherty and Taylor it never feels obligatory or boring. While the characters are admittedly one-dimensional it is more as a result of the genre than their writing. This is an adventure story, not a character study.
Woodley is fantastic as Tris, handling the character with total dedication but also with a great sense of fun. Having proven herself as a fine actress already (The Descendants, The Spectacular Now), Woodley is now proving she can be a Hollywood star and carry a large movie on her back. As her confidant/love interest, James also gives a more impressive performance than one would expect for this type of character. Most of Four’s scenes require him to smolder quietly as Tris looks on, but James does much more than what is expected and brings real heart to the role.
Divergent is not only a lot of fun to watch, it’s a refreshing detour from the drivel that has been thrust on general movie-going audiences lately.
Grade: A
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