Divergent - Movie Review

Who's in it?

Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet

What's it about?

In post-war Chicago, the people behind the Shingeki no Kyojin-esque wall are divided into 5 factions - Abnegation (basically a governing version of Focus Ireland), Erudite (scholars), Dauntless (Police/Army), Amity (Farmers) and Candor (lawyers). Tris takes a mind altering test to find in which she belongs, but finds out she belongs in none; so to avoid suspicion of being Divergent (they're killed on sight) she hides out in Dauntless.

Any Good?

After a week of arguing with my good friend Hasan about it, I was really pleasantly surprised at this movie; I thought it would just rip off The Hunger Games like The Hunger Games shamelessly to Battle Royale, but it turned out to be smarter and not as Twilight-y (yes, I have read the books but..eh).

So, yeah, I'm pretty much a big deal as you can see..

While there is a stupid love-at-first-sight plot-point, the main characters are pretty badass on their own. Eric; the Tom Hardy lookalike DBag teacher is Hardy-Bane worthy, Four is the generic brooding teacher/love interest with some greay moves and Tris is just a more ruthless and clever version of Katniss Everdeen without the bow (not a bad thing, I prefer her!). The plot is a little easy to guess, but it's the little things in the story that I enjoyed. There is great mind-trickery all the way through which I really enjoyed until the stupidly predictable ending.

The acting is just above the usual Summit Entertainment grade, but Kate Winslet was pretty good as the Evil Government. If you're looking for a movie like The Hunger Games that isn't just a re-skinned Japanese thriller and has some originality; this is for you. Having watched this followed by The Raid, I've learned if ever in a fight, GO FOR THE THROAT FIRST!

Rating:

The (sigh..) Eldest Gorgebag