Divergent

RATING: B

Fans of young-adult dystopian fiction book-to-movie series are having it great these days. We have three film series to choose from these days. We have the one that everyone knows about and pretty much everyone loves; the Hunger Games. We have the Maze Runner, the insanely fast-paced action-and-mystery-packed-and-yet-a-little-ridiculous-but-we-like-it-anyway series. And then we have Divergent. 

I'll be frank, Divergent's pretty easily at the bottom of the pecking order of this bunch. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. It has its own things to like about it, even if it feels like a blend of Hunger Games and Harry Potter and even a little of The Giver at times. 

Of the "big three" series, this one has by far the most realistic scenario. Taking place in a future Chicago, society is divided into five factions; the nerds (Erudite), the farmers (Amity), the Honest Abe's (Candor; and yes, that's actually its own faction), the ones who run the government (Abnegation) and the crazy ones who do insane stunts in the name of bravery (Dauntless). That's not a full description of them, but it's the easiest way to remember them. 

At some point in their late teens (the movie didn't exactly make it clear when), people are given serum-induced "tests" that will choose the best faction for them... and yet the kids are still allowed to choose for themselves. We have Beatrice (who later shortens her name to Tris), who takes the test like an average person... and the test doesn't even work on her. Why? Because she's a Divergent. Which are outlawed, of course. Because they can think independently and thus they threaten the "system." 

Good thing that sometimes your test-giver overrides your actual results in the computer, and that you're still allowed to choose your own faction anyway. 

So Tris joins Dauntless. For some reason. But thus begins her journey to try and fit in in a faction despite herself. She quickly becomes friends with the trainer Four (don't worry, that's not his real name), who has secrets of his own. And while Tris fights to become a full member of Dauntless, the two begin to uncover a conspiracy in the system. 

Divergent runs for a surprisingly long 140 minutes, and at times it feels like it wouldn't have hurt to trim it a little bit, considering that it takes a while for stuff besides choosing ceremonies and intense training to actually start happening. Despite that, the film somehow manages to keep us interested, and in the last 40 minutes or so, all heck breaks loose and we are treated to an action-packed ending. The film is also pushed forward by some strong acting--namely Shailene Woodley in the main role and Kate Winslet in the government official role. 

We are given enough of an interesting beginning to the film series that I still feel interested in watching the next movie. Divergent may not be quite the best of the young adult dystopian film series, but it's still worth watching if you're a fan of the dystopian genre in general. It does feel like quite a realistic scenario overall; which helps make it all the more interesting. Otherwise, the movie would be pretty boring.