Directed by:
Neil BurgerCinematography:
Alwin H. KuchlerComposer:
Tom HolkenborgCast:
Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Jai Courtney, Kate Winslet, Ray Stevenson, Ansel Elgort, Ashley Judd, Maggie Q, Tony Goldwyn (more)VOD (5)
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Sci-fi adventure directed by Neil Burger and based on the first novel in Veronica Roth's trilogy. In a future where society is divided into five distinct factions based on personality traits, Beatrice 'Tris' Prior (Shailene Woodley) undergoes a test to determine which faction she belongs to. Afterwards, she finds out she meets the criteria for more than one and is therefore Divergent - a rare occurrence which puts her and others like her in danger. Her secret is known only to a small number of people and she is forced to make a decision about which faction to join. In the end, she opts for Dauntless, a faction made up of the brave, and as she undergoes initiation, her fellow members begin to grow suspicious of her and her behaviour. On top of this, she also uncovers a plot by another faction's leader (Kate Winslet) to seek out and destroy all Divergents, making the potential threat of exposure all the more dangerous. (Entertainment One)
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Really terrible. The film rips off a lot of other films, the logic is lacking like in The 100 and unless the characters are raging with puberty hormones, they have no chance of survival. What got me was a scene right at the outset where the kids are being sorted into Gryffindor, Slytherin, and.. oops, sorry, a different film. Instead of a talking hat, they all cut themselves with the same knife, so I suppose this society has already tackled the issue of HIV. What follows is the usual mix of weird action, overblown romance, ridiculous acting, and melodrama accompanied by an awful soundtrack, culminating in the film's ending. Considering I gave Season 1 of The 100 one star, I can't go any lower with Divergence, which is a shame. On a final note – 139 minutes!!!
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If Starship Troopers had been meant seriously, it would have looked like Burger’s sunny dystopia. The central idea of Divergent is likable, and if I were a teenager dealing with the feeling that nobody understands me and I don’t belong anywhere, I wouldn’t have a problem seeing myself in the story. The subject skilfully uses the mental processes of adolescents who feel pushed by society into narrowly defined pigeonholes. Unlike in the real world, failing the test of adulthood here is not a cause for despair, but rather an opportunity to step off the path laid out by parents and to follow one’s heart. ___ But what does Tris accomplish by running away from her assigned role? Violence becomes her main form of self-expression, which remains unquestioned by the narrative. She earns respect through risky behaviour and toughness, not through composure or ingenuity. Though she voluntarily chose her faction, she can’t be herself, as she has to dissemble in front of the others in order to convince them that she belongs among them (she will then have to undergo a great test of dissembling in the Resistance). The militarisation of youth is not coded negatively, but is only abused by another faction, fittingly the Erudite. Weapons are superior to books in the film’s value ranking, which could be understood as a warning about the radicalisation of not only American society – if there was any irony or distance from the characters in the film. ___ The film equivocates with respect to who or what poses a threat, who or what the Dauntless are supposed to protect the city from. There is no ongoing war that has to be stopped. The necessity of a strong defence comes across as a paranoid ideological construct from the Cold War era. ___ The greatest paradox consists in the fact that Tris’s betrayal of her parents’ trust leads back to where the film began. Her rebellion doesn’t lead to revolution, but to the need to restore the previous order. The concept of social engineering, which displaces human nature in favour of a predictable and thus more easily manipulated society, is not questioned. Only individuals like Jeanine are corrupt. The old (parental) system is automatically understood as being correct, which is how Divergent inadvertently “holds up a mirror” to teenagers dreaming in the virtual space that they will go against the tide, while in reality they are terrified of losing their current certainties and accept the status quo as the truth. ___ The concept of life as a video game is contained at least in the choice of factions (as in an RPG), the inclusion of the popular CTF game mode and in the fact that most of the film comprises training with minor skirmishes rather than vigorous action with serious conflicts (which is largely true of the Resistance, where only tranquiliser bullets are used instead of lethal ammunition and where the most spectacular action scenes take place only in the protagonist’s mind). Whereas in her dreams the protagonist is able to withstand all of the elements (earth, birds, fire, water and – the biggest threat to every untarnished girl – a man), when the harmless pseudo-rebel training ends, Tris has to be rescued by her mother – the girl can’t cope on her own in the real world (for a change, she is repeatedly rescued by her male partners in the Resistance). ___ Besides the fact that the film version of the bestselling book gives the impression of being just as confused as a person facing the problems of adulthood for the first time, it essentially fails in dramaturgical terms. The story is slow for 140 minutes. The characters take either needlessly complex detours or unconvincing shortcuts in the pursuit of their objectives. For more than half of the film, the suspense stems only from the anticipation of when Tris’s inability to assimilate will be revealed – there is no more serious conflict in sight. The literalness of the screenplay is apparent from the bookish exposition, which uninventively lets the characters say who they are, what they feel, what they want to do and why. The whole film takes place in a strangely sedated and very inconsistently thought-out world. Add to that bad CGI and another negative character of a powerful woman (as in Elysium, The Hunger Games and Snowpiercer), which darkly stigmatises women’s efforts to get into leadership positions. Thematically, this would need a dystopia for adolescents that is itself adult and does not discourage growing up. Stylistically, something at least suggestively revolutionary. 50%
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Genre-wise, it is not as pure and systematically politically incorrect as Hunger Games, although there are certain parallels. The heroine, on the other hand, is similarly attractive and vital. There is also much less political subtext and much more survival and love story – by the way, it's okay, you can survive it. The main characters are extremely well-cast, the visuals are stylish, and the dialogues are smart and acerbic – enjoyed it, even though it's full of clichés and has quite uneven action that is gripping at times (full-contact fights) and confusing at others (shooting). That said, it’s good stuff for a wider audience. After Hunger Games, people were craving something new, here it will be like a new sandwich from KFC, not the best food in the world or a revolutionary novelty, but it generally tastes good to everyone.
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Except for the last twenty minutes or so, not exactly a stupid dystopia. But there’s a strong sense of the female element from the source material, so in places it has the spirit of magazines like 'Bravo Girl', or whatever the young girls of today are into (I’ve no idea). As long as they are just testing, it has an original atmosphere, but when they start shooting at the end and try to make an action spectacle, it rides the wave of films that are great material for parodies. And the ending simply killed the carefully constructed – and quite interesting – atmosphere. The comparisons with other contemporary popular sagas by female authors are warranted. Not the Twilight crap, but for example Hunger Games, which benefits from shameless rip-offs of other dystopian works (especially Battle Royale), entertained me a bit more and I didn't feel like banging my head against the wall, as I did with the overly dull conclusion of Divergence.
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I can't believe my eyes. I was worried that Divergence wouldn't be too different from its competition (Mortal Instruments, Twilight and The Host), but I was wrong! Divergence has an excellent idea, a decently thought out story, a nice pace, a perfect cast from the cute central couple to the creepy bad guy, and most importantly more survival and love story than Hunger Games. The highlight of the film were definitely all three phases of the training, which had my heart racing and I'm sure I would have ended up in the abyss after two days, the emotions and empathy really worked at the highest level here. So, for me, a very disturbing post-apocalyptic affair and the best film with a "fight against the system" theme. I shudder to think that in 50 years such a system will be in place here, as the totalitarianism here made me sick to my stomach. Quality appeared where I absolutely did not expect it this year.
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