Spoiler follow
I just finished watching Divergent a film that I will say now I had never heard of until maybe 2 days ago and I only found out about 5 minutes ago that its a series of books. So I was going into this one blinder then a bat I didn't watch any trailers or anything and you know what my first thought was when watching it and i know this will annoy some people I thought Hunger Games. It felt and sounded just like The Hunger Games as Triss is explaining the war and how they have come to live inside the wall in their different factions. Which I will say this now I am more a Hunger Games fan myself so it was going to take a lot to make me like this film but they didn't disappoint. With a mildly unknown cast of actors apart from the odd couple I didn't expect this to be anything more then another Twilight good idea on paper but a bomb when it comes to the big screen. But it surprisingly really works and has a interesting story behind it which with the factions intrigued me enough to keep on watching. Now I will try and remember as many of the characters names as possible and the faction names so I apologise if I get anything wrong but all you Divergent fanboys and fangirls will be happy to know I haven't got anything bad to say about the film. (Well nearly nothing)
So shall we start with that bad point just get it out of the way so that we can get on to the good things about the film my bad point I'm talking about is Kate Winslet. Sorry Kate love you and all but I couldn't stand you in this film you just annoyed me and I know your be going but Liam she was the villain she's meant to do that. But while that is true all I kept thinking as I watched the film was your just sticking out in this film like a sore thumb with that dopey American accent that she puts on that isn't convincing anyone she just annoyed me. So she played the big "baddie" Jeanine I think her name was if I remember rightly (great is IMDB) the leader of a faction that starts up the programme that makes all of Triss faction into mini soldiers well apart from her obviously. I guess thats my other bad point about the film is that the final act of the film feels very rushed and not paced out in a way that feels explained for the people like me that haven't read the books. See when you adapt a book for film and I feel that its something that Twilight had a problem with as well (pains me to think it might come under the Twilight curse) that you spend so much time adapting all the little bits that don't need to be included and then keep out the main plot line for the end of the film. Rushing the last part of the story into the final 20 minutes it was kinda like a plot line explosion that made my brain hurt trying to keep up with what was being portrayed on screen. I felt like I had just missed half of the film and thought that their was something I had missed like I had fallen asleep part of the way through the film.
But lets stop talking about the bad things and talk about some of the good points about the film well the fact that they chose quite a unknown cast for the movie is normally a plus. Well it was for this films case I didn't have to expect any massive performances from them because I haven't really seen any of the cast in anything before this apart from a few exceptions. But I will say this now that I didn't get partly scared at first for the film when Eric turned up in the film and saw that it was John Mcclane's son from A good day to die hard because we all know how well that film went down don't we. But I know that this is bad but I actually really like him in the film thought that he was one of the highlights of the film. I know that he was evil but who cares everyone loves a good villain in a film and I found him more enjoyable to watch as a villain then Kate Winslet. It also brings me back to that point of that I felt like the last part of the film jumped and everything was thrown at us at once as he suddenly just became less arsehole and more just plain bastard.
Triss I have to say this now and I know are get hate for this but she did remind me of Katniss in Hunger Games those they both are basically the same character. They don't trust anyone come from a faction/ district and become the leaders of a group and story it just show a lot of resemblance to her but whats great with Triss is that she can have a laugh. I guess thats what makes Divergent likeable is that its more lighthearted its for the people that don't like all the killing and death in the Hunger Games. Also we have Four yes his name is Four who I have to say I couldn't stand up until maybe the end of the movie. Well even then I didn't really like him mostly because he's like watching pain dry or a pile of bricks theres more personality in the bricks i think. But what I did love is the way he chose him name so when you enter their faction you get to change your name to what ever you like. So he changed his to four to remind him of the four fears in his life which if I remember were heights, his father, killing a man and I can't remember the last. But it was interesting and brought something to the movie which actually made it very enjoyable to watch. I think without the testing scenes it would have just been a generic movie that wouldn't have had any life to it.
So the testing is where they get tested to see what faction they go into depending on what they do in the tasks that happen in their mind I know its like the hunger games just going on in the head. That would have made for a different movie wouldn't it have Katniss and the rest of the tributes all laying there asleep every now and then twitching as they make it through the course. Right back on track in Triss case she was divergent which is a rare case where they don't fall into any of the factions because they are a bit of each. Basically making them harder to control because their not mindless people that have easy brains to take over their not robots for the councils own control basically. Which is the reason that they have them hunted down and killed which makes Triss at the top of their most wanted list. The tests that Triss has to undertake are brilliant to watch whether its running away from a group of crows or stuck in a glass box filling up with water. Its great to watch on screen as it runs its course the glass box reminded me a lot of the cube those. If you don't live in the UK then you might not know what the cube is but its basically where contestants take on tasks in a massive glass box for money. It reminded me of that imagine that on TV on a saturday night for 50,000 pounds you have to find a way out of the glass box before it feels up with water and you eventually drown. But it overall brings something different to the movie and makes for a dream state where anything is possible playing out your worst fears to show whether you are strong enough to stay with them or not.
Now something that I never really talk about is the sets and costumes but they are great in this film the sets are great everything feels like a quarantine zone. Which i guess is the whole point of it being that they are in a walled city. For a film that is 80% CG which is the common thing for films these days its certainly can't be seen in this film. As you watch and see what looks like you gave 5 different designers a bit of land to work on and you see what they make of the city and it shows their personality and just what sort of people they are. I just wish the same could be said for the script which goes up and down more then a roller coaster. Its up and down and at times I do wonder if they know where the script is going reason why I don't want it to get the twilight treatment. It's set up nicely for the next 3 films seeing as all film series like this now a days seems to get the last book split into 2 so if i was to read the book I have a long time to do it.
Overall its a good start to a new series which I still have my reserves over as it might become the next series that has more ups and downs then a roller coaster. With a strong cast that make for a strong sequel to come we can hope its just the pacing that needs to be sorted out because at the moment so much was thrown at me at once that I thought my head was going to explode. Just streamline everything next time because it was just to much to take in for one movie. But it was a great surprise those to say that I hadn't heard of this movie up until a couple of days ago. It certainly made me more interested in the series lets just hope that they can improve on it and make for something better for the sequel.
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