If you have watched the Hunger Games, and you’re seeking another thrilling young adult movie, Divergent might be the choice for you. Trilogies have become increasingly popular over the last decade, but Divergent is a cut above other series such as Twilight. As the screen faded to black, I just sat there, wondering if I would be able to wait for the second installment.
I didn’t know about the Divergent series until I saw the movie and I was completely blown away. It was one of the best movies I’d seen in a long time. The film focuses around an enigmatic factional society. The five factions are: Amity the peaceful, Candor the honest, Dauntless the brave, Abnegation the selfless, and Erudite the intelligent. Each faction lives in its own society, without being able to contact family or friends in other factions.
The movie is based in a dystopian society in futuristic Chicago after the world falls apart. Teenagers have to decide if they want to stay in their current faction, or switch into a different faction that suits them for the rest of their lives. The new faction members then have to go through an initiation process to live out the choice they’ve made. Which includes physical and mental tests that prepare them for the faction. If one does not fit into the faction that they chose, it could lead to death or to becoming factionless. Factionless are people who didn’t survive initiation, which means that they may have chose the wrong faction to be in.
In the movie, Beatrice Prior is the main character, played by Shailene Woodley. Most people know Shailene as the actress that played in “Secret Life of the American Teenager,” but in this movie she plays a strong female lead. I loved the way she played Beatrice because she added emotion and feelings throughout the movie, which I think is important for actors and actresses to achieve.
The way the movie was filmed was outstanding. During one particular scene, Beatrice is zip-lining through Chicago and the recreation of the skyline is amazing. The fact that it’s based on a dystopian society catches a persons attention. It’s not like every other movie that has a happy feel to it. It has romance, action, suspense, and heartbreak, which makes it entertaining to watch, but they left a lot of important things out from the book that made me unhappy. Theo James, the actor who portrayed Four, was an ideal choice for the role because he is a likable character and his actions and line delivery seemed to match the storyline.
I didn’t know, until I read the book, that things were missing from the movie. I was disappointed at first because I wasn’t expecting certain things to be left out, but in the end I’ve come to the conclusion that I liked both the movie and the book, but in different ways. And unlike many people who can’t seem to separate the two, I appreciate each of them on their own merits.
If you haven’t seen Divergent already, I strongly recommend doing so. The book is also really well written and allows the reader to grasp how Beatrice thinks more than simply watching the movie. Since Insurgent will not be released until the Fall of 2015, I’ll probably reread the trilogy again and rent Divergent from Redbox a few more times.
