Review: Divergent

Saw this movie which was in wide review last week. Its still playing in The US and will probabbly roll out across the world as time goes on. I thought i would right down some of my thoughts.



But first i wanted to point out a survey done by the MPAA. A majority of female audiences want to see Female Superheros and heroines. They also make up a majorty of the theater going audience- but a good percent. 53 percent.

www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/...s-2013_032514-v2.pdf

And so we get Divergent. A movie thats about Trice A woman whose superpower-is she can think some what normally in a world of death frats.

Well thats not entirely fair. Thats what the reputation of the movie as a kind of knockoff of the hunger games. Its more then that.

Beatrice (Shailine Woodly) Lives in a post apoclyptic Chicago which has divided itself into five casts-Abjucation(the leaders who are selfless) Eurudite who are smart, Amity for the kind,, Candor who are honest, and Dauntless for the brave badass. Those who fail are factionless and untouchable. Trice when given a futuristic drug to test-it doesn't work-so shes divergent-more then one intrest

Or so thedialughe says. In movie it seems more like her mental power is just imunie to the drugs that do it- that she can think clearly and directly and face her life.

Which is the movies strength. One of the reasons i saw this to be honest was that i read an old post about Female superhero movies, and Ripley as a character from Alien. There she was a badass but a badss that had some direction. Her clones in like the underworld movies, or Elektra Don't. I recently saw the movie Justice Leauge: War- which features Wonder Woman. WW was a tough strong powerful badass who took know guff and admited nothing. She was also the movies comic relief They could only play that type for humor-humor that was chuckle worthy at spots-but......well this is Strong indipendent woman!

Trice isn't. Shailene Woodlley was nominated for an academy award three years ago for the Desdendents, in one of the few moies the academy ever nominated someone who wore a bikini for most of the film. Yet shes not here at least physically that impressive-average size in everyway, early when fiddling with her jackett someone say take it off- until she does-and he says put it back on. She is pretty but not gorgious Shes not super muscular, or tough looking- and she never plays these things. As she faces incredible, physical and emotional struggle she never acts so tough that she can't face it- all but she never shrikes from it either. She never says no. She faces the challenge, she keeps going and going and doesn't stop.

and she chooses it. This book is often called a hunger games clone-but not really. After she is given the test she is told that she belongs to Abjugaction(well that the person put dauntless in)-instead she chooses dauntless. This is a big diffrence. Katnis from the hunger games, doesn't really have a choice. She is forced into a horrible situation and goes forward. Especially in the movie (as played by Jennifer Lawrence an actress with 2 academy awards) she plays mostly as petulant or slightly bored by the horrors that have been thrust on her. Trice enters the life of dauntless open armed and of her own free will.

She chooses to be a badass.

And the life isn't horrible. One of the problem of the hunger game movies is it doesn't get what the book does-Katniss lives in a world where they are trying to kill people-but even the people who are doing it don't want her in particular to die.

Divergent gets that-it creates a dysptopia yes, but its not a horrible distopia. No one really seems to bad off. When she meets the incredible badasses of of dauntless-for the most part there not dicks. They seem to make a genuine effort to be nice to her, congratulate and lift her on there shoulders when she does well and even there mean one gets moments of grace. They are not easy on her, but they accept her-the movie does a good job of avoiding cliches of Dicks to the new guy story.Points especially for Zoe Kravitz and Amy Newbold as standouts as her friend and her rival respectfully.

And Theo James as her hardass instructer---and love intrest. Its a tricky perfomrance being the love intrest in a female action movie-and he does it with a certain aplumb. A girl and her a bit older teacher is ichy-but he does a good job of seeming like a quiet enough badass-who wants the best for her, and well...at a point her. Its a tricky part that he does well. They don't have tremendious chemestry but they have some to a degree based on what he does.

And then theres Kate Winslet--as the villian. There have been talk about Super villians-and she does a great job at it. As the leader of Erudity she jsut the perfectly in control monster-no emotion no fear, just icy calm viens of death. Its Showy in its non showyness and a great preformance.

And the action around it good. The fights feel real-there is a sense of physicality to the combat in each scene- when someone gets punch it looks like it hurt both the person who took it and did it like real combat. you get the old joke in a world which has superpowered guns spends a lot of time with hand to hand combat and throwing knives-but well Ms. Woodley knows how to throw a knife. Especially in the third act it really ramps up to something.

But It takes awhile to get going. This is not a movie with a lot of plot-the movie is mainly training for about 70 percent of it. Most of the story is the story of Trice and her struggles-but unlike Hunger Games or Harry Potter she is not presented as some amazing chosen one. When the big revel of her choosing at the end of the first act theres no big shock. She has to learn how to fight, learn how to be strong-and when the movies kicks into gear and her superpowers come finally into play she has to earn her happy ending- and be a superhero.

This is not a perfect movie. The music is terrible. The Special effects can be hot and cold. This isn't the hugest budget movie ever. The script when it has to exxposit the world and explain the factions and the rules-well it doesn't do it well .However its a move that i recommend..
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I started by talking about how audiences seem to want female superheros. If this is the kind of movie they give us, if Shailne Woodley is the model for new action heroine-well its not everything this group may want-l. But if this is the kind of movie that Hollywood give us-i am not going to be to mad.