Movie Review of The Divergent Series: Insurgent
Skyler Powers
Insurgent is the second installment in the dystopian Divergent series, successor to Divergent. This film follows main protagonist, Beatrice “Tris” Prior (Shailene Woodley), and her boyfriend, Tobias “Four” Eaton (Theo James), as they try to stop the malevolent plans of the film’s antagonist, Jeanine Matthews (Kate WInslet): capturing Divergents, or people who don’t fit into a certain faction of society, and testing them in order to open a mysterious box that was previously withheld by the Abnegation faction.
In my opinion, this film was neither a step up nor a step down in its level of success or quality. It is, for the most part, true to its source material, but there are a few, somewhat crucial, changes. I think that the writers wanted to avoid the sometimes monotonous pace and plot that the novel had, so they decided to add some new elements and plot twists. However, this just made the movie seem rushed and lost, as if it didn’t know where it wanted to go. Some of the characters were introduced quickly and they came across as paper thin and cliched. Despite this, the main characters and some of the supporting cast were really great; they had a lot of depth and you truly began to care about them.
Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Kate Winslet, however, are the glue that holds this flimsy movie with a somewhat lost plot together. Shailene Woodley is a fantastic actress and she shows some genuine deep emotion in parts of the film. Theo James is functional for the most part, but he does have some better scenes where you see his true acting ability. However, Woodley’s and James’s fictional relationship lacks some of the chemistry that would have made it more believable. This makes some of the romantic scenes seem forced and unnatural. Kate Winslet plays a wonderful villain. You truly hate her and her evil ways and this causes you to constantly root for the protagonists, which is the point.
Lastly, the visuals in the film were great. They seem very realistic even though some of the scenarios would most likely never be possible in the real world. On the big screen, these special effects are simply stunning. Special effects can make or break a movie, and, in this film’s case, it makes it.
In the end, this film is good. The plot is a little flimsy and, at some points, all over the place. However, the great acting from the main characters and part of the supporting cast is good enough to hold it together. Although some of the characters seem very cliched and two-dimensional, there are enough complex and interesting ones to keep your attention. The special effects, however, is what makes this okay movie into a good one. As I said before, special effects can make or break a movie, and they make Insurgent. The stunning visuals, strong acting, and complex main characters carry the sometimes unstable plot well enough, making this second installment a quite enjoyable time.
