One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

The Divergent Series: Insurgent

Last year the beginning of yet another series of Young Adult dystopian novels found their way to the big screen. Divergent is the start of Veronica Roth’s series of books that follow the story of a teenage girl and her personal struggle to change her world for the better. The first film introduces us to a Chicago that has sectioned their society into five factions. Dubbed a feared Divergent (one that is susceptible to all five factions), Tris struggles to keep her secret and hides among one warrior-like faction. Unfortunately for Tris, her secret is revealed and she tries to save herself and the ones she loves from the tyrannical Jeanine Matthews. This year Summit Entertainment continues Tris’ story in the next chapter in The Divergent Series, called Insurgent.

Picking up right after the events of Divergent, the mind-controlled soldiers of Dauntless are rummaging through the wreckage of the faction Abnegation. Eric (Jai Courtney Good Day to Die Hard) discovers a box with the symbols of all five factions engraved into the sides. Immediately announcing that they have found what they were looking for, all soldiers vacate the rubble. Eric formally hands the box over to Jeanine (Kate Winslet Titanic), who explains that the box contains a message from the Founders and the only person that can open the box is a Divergent. Jeanine believes that the message inside give instructions on how to eliminate the ‘Divergent problem’ so orders the loyal Dauntless to round up every Divergent they can find.  Meanwhile, Tris (Shailene Woodley The Fault in Our Stars), Four (Theo James Golden Boy), and the rest of the ‘rebels’ have taken refuge within the Amity faction. Haunted by the choices that she has made, Tris tries desperately to keep calm and plan what their next move is going to be. Tris and the rest are violently interrupted when Dauntless soldiers invade the Amity compound. Escaping and making their way to the city, Tris and Four must now make allegiances with people from their past and ultimately stay one step ahead of Jeanine and her minions.

This film gave me a mixed bag of emotions. On the positive note, I thought that action scenes were more compelling in this film than they were in the first film. It just seemed that, at least, Woodley felt more comfortable with the choreography. The scenes also made that natural progression into more grand territory as all action scenes should in a sequel. The performances throughout from Woodley and especially Winslet were also a highlight of the film. However, those were the only elements of the movie that I actually enjoyed. Though Woodley is strong within the film, the writers or director Robert Schwentke (RED) does not do enough for me to really care what happens to these characters. I never felt connected to the characters and at one point I just thought to myself, “Just get captured so that we all can find out what is in this box!”

As I have said, I enjoyed Woodley’s rise of maturity in this film. Woodley’s character is faced with very troubling choices and Woodley projects the inner struggle within Tris quite well. Though Woodley does well in the film, I never felt any type of concern for her character. I still blame this on the writers and Schwentke. They never spend too much time on the emotional connection to Tris before the dive into another action scene. James also provides a little more range to the character of Four this time around. James’ character is more emotional attuned to what is going on around him and his love for Tris is evident. However, Four changes to a sulking follower in Divergent, to a love struck follower in Insurgent. James tries his best to become a leader throughout the film, but as soon has his leadership muscle is flexed the film moves on so quickly. Winslet, on the other hand, is a constant figure in the film. Winslet is just as conniving as she was in the first film and is the only character that I truly felt ‘connected’ to. Winslet’s Jeanine is out to do what is best for her society at any cost. Winslet does a great job of projecting this to the audience and, though the villain, she quickly becomes the best character in this film.

Replacing Neil Burger as director for this sequel, Schwentke creates more exciting action scenes for this film. I personally thought RED was an amazing action film, so I knew that Schwentke would up the ante for this film. However, what happens is that when the action scenes become more grandiose, the story begins to lack. Schwentke never takes the time to bring out the story to its full potential. There is a lot of emotion and personal struggle that most of these characters go through, but the audience is not fully privy to it because the story is moved along to quickly by another upcoming action scene. Of course, I know this responsibility doesn’t fall fully on Schwentke, but come on man, you’re the director. You need to make a sequel stand out from the predecessor.

As I understand that this is a middle section to a trilogy of books, this film just felt like filler. I never really found the point of this second film besides what the message is contained inside the box. The audience is introduced to a couple of new characters, we find a box, and Tris is still a Divergent. Taking that all into account, this film never really does anything new or has that Empire Strikes Back moment of shock and awe like all good middle parts do. By the time that we find out what the message is, I didn’t really care. Though I am sure that if you are a fan of the first film or even the books, you might enjoy this film and may be able to come away with more than I (who didn’t read the books) did. Woodley is a strong lead and the action scenes were exciting, but other than that, I think this film should be viewed on the small screen.

The Verdict: Wait For Blu-Ray