Divergent (2014) - YA Pandering Nonsense.

I would suggest diverging from your path to the theater. 

Book-to-film adaptations are a dime a dozen. I don't think it's too far of a stretch to say so. It seems like every other movie you see in theaters is adapted from a novel or novella of some fashion. Some are good. Some are bad. Either way, it's easy to see that Hollywood has no ideas of their own so they take them from the creative writers of the world.

But do you know what's worse than a copy-and-paste by-the-numbers cash-grab of a movie? A copy-and-paste by-the-numbers cash-grab of a movie based off a copy-and-paste by-the-numbers cash-grab of a book. Divergent is an atrocious rip-off of the Hunger Games meant to cash in n that franchise's popularity, nothing more.

Don't believe me? Let me outline the story of this movie for you: A young, waif-y white girl lives in a dystopian future ruled by strict divisions in the form of districts factions. This girl will go into a situation where she must learn to fight alongside a cast of far more interesting characters who will get little focus aside from the generic hot guy who cares for her tremendously because he threw bread at her they are both 'divergent', eventually leading up to a rebellion against the Capital the leading Faction.

It's the Hunger Games, except more complicated and without the actual games. If that sounds boring as sin, then you'd be right! This movie is a boring mess of uninspired plot points and fortune cookie-level philosophies. It makes me so baffled that this movie managed to get as much of a following as it did.

Oh wait, I know exactly why! Because it's wish fulfillment, plain and simple. It's insipid drivel meant to attract young girls who want to be super-strong tough Mockingjays who topple dictators and make out with hunky, raven-haired dudes while still having perfect hair and remaining 5'4 and 90 lbs. It's this pandering bullish that makes me despise this movie and everyone involved.

But...we'll get to that later. Let's discuss the actual plot of the movie, shall we?

Beatrice is a girl born in the city of Chicago where all of its' citizens are divided into 5 factions: Amity, Erudite, Candor, Abnegation, and Dauntless, each of them serving a specific purpose in society. Beatrice is Abnegation, the selfless faction, and has to undergo a test before she chooses which faction she's a part of for the rest of her life. But when she takes the test her results are inconclusive, meaning she has more than one personality trait...like most people do in real life but not in this universe, apparently. The Powers That Be call people like her "Divergents" and don't like them because they can't control them because...I don't know. The movie doesn't even bother to explain.

This is Triss. Are those mockingjays on her collarbone?

Beatrice is told to lay low because, by complete coincidence, the one giving Beatrice the test is a Divergent sympathizer and is willing to keep her secret. Beatrice proceeds to do so, hiding her divergence from her family in a very conspicuous way. When the time comes for Beatrice to choose her faction she decides to join Dauntless: the supposed law enforcement faction, even though all the Dauntless seem to do is climb buildings, train combat skills and generally be dicks to one another.

Upon joining Dauntless, Beatrice changes her name to "Triss" (because that doesn't sound like the second syllable of the name of a certain rebellious waif from a certain YA novel series...) and comes across a guy named Four. He has abs and broad shoulders. He's also a trainer for Dauntless recruits. That's pretty much all you need to know about this guy.

She also comes across her ethnic best friend, an asshole played by Miles Teller, and a few other people I can't bother to remember. I'm intentionally avoiding calling them "characters" because in order to be a character, you need to have a personality and reason to exist. These people don't. They're just background decorations and plot devices.

This is Four. He has muscles. 

There's a big problem with this movie right there: character is completely absent from this film. The plot moves at a mile a minute with no time to get to know or care about our heroes aside from very basic personality traits so the actors have something to go off of. I don't care what happens to these people, and neither will you. The only reason you would care would be if you projected yourself onto the main character, which this movie is clearly trying to get you to do!

Take this for example: at one point Triss has to participate in a virtual reality simulation (I think. It's never made clear how the technology works) where she must face all of her greatest fears. Now, a competent filmmaker would use this scenario to establish some personality traits and motivations for Triss, as exploring what one fears is a good way of establishing character.

Take, for instance, Batman Begins. The movie goes in-depth into Bruce Wayne's character and firmly establishes his motivations and fears. One of the villains in the movie, Dr. Crane, uses a toxin that makes his victims see their greatest fears. Batman needs to overcome his fears to stop him and save the day.

This is nothing like that. Triss's fear simulation is used only to further the "hiding divergence" plot point, because she tells herself that the sim isn't real so she manipulates reality in the envirnment to beta her fears. Only Divergents can do that, apparently, so it just reinforces how skilled and special our main hero is.

Speaking of which, Triss takes part in the training scenarios put in place by Four and the Dauntless Executives, and yet it barely feels like she's actually training. It feels more like she's just reinforcing what she's already good at. She's great and knife-throwing without ever practicing beforehand (even when it's established that she's a poor shot with a gun.) When the Dauntless trainees get together to play a game of Capture the Flag, Triss wins the game for her team by suggesting the complicated strategy of climbing high to get a vantage point before sneaking in and retrieving her enemy's flag. She's constantly regarded as a hero by her peers (except asshole Miles Teller, but he's an asshole so it's OK) and lauded with praise and admiration.

But maybe that's because the hunky Four (God, that name is stupid) shows unfathomable amounts of favoritism towards her! It's obvious that he's supposed to be her love interest, and having him be the drill instructor to her entire division gives way to him giving her special treatment. It's highly unprofessional and makes it seem like Triss is cheating her way through training.

She's evil? Naw....impossible.

Maybe that's the reason that, at one point, three fellow initiates try to kill her by throwing her off a bridge, only her her to be saved by I Am Number Four and have it be revealed that one of the perpetrators was one of Triss's friends. She's receiving so much special treatment that her own friends hate her! At least that's what you'd think would be happening, but no. The friend feels so bad about it afterwards he kills himself by jumping off the bridge I just mentioned. What purpose does that plot point serve? No idea! It vanishes just as quickly as it appears.

And if you'd like an even better idea of how special being a Divergent is, apparently having more than one personality trait makes you immune to mind control in this universe. Apparently Triss and her ilk joined Dauntless at the exact same time the Powers that Be, the Erudite faction (because logic and reason is evil), has decided to turn the Dauntless into an army of mindless slaves to kill the Abnegation folk because they're too selfless and hurt the community...I guess. Like most things in this movie, the Erudite faction's motivations are not well-explained.

Lucky for us, Triss and Team Four Star are both Divergent and are able to stop the evil Erudite boss (an old, blonde, pale woman played by Kate Winslet) and save the Dauntless and Abnegation folk before riding off on a train into an uncertain future. Sure enough, there are 2 sequels to this movie, and I hear there's another in development. The later it releases the better, because this is one of the most shallow and least original films out there, especially in the young adult genre.

If you haven't caught on, this movie is only meant to appeal to the fantasies of young girls who want to be total badasses without ever putting in any actual effort. It's a pointless, boring mess of undeveloped plot threads and flat characters that serve only to inflate the ego of our blank protagonist.

Divergent belongs in the Cinematic Garbage faction.