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Critics Consensus: With an adherence to YA formula that undercuts its individualistic message, Divergent opens its planned trilogy in disappointingly predictable fashion.
Critic Consensus: With an adherence to YA formula that undercuts its individualistic message, Divergent opens its planned trilogy in disappointingly predictable fashion.
All Critics (222) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (94) | Rotten (128) | DVD (2)
What a conformist message.
Barely diverting.
It's all pretty dumb, and it marks a career low for director Neil Burger, who's made some first-class indie dramas from his own scripts.
The first film adapted from Veronica Roth's generically dystopian book series arrives with a sludgy, gray-hued plop.
The climactic chases, shootouts, and fistfights have been staged, filmed, and edited with insobriety. Visual clarity shouldn't be too much to ask from these movies, even if they fail to achieve ideological coherence.
Jackhammer music and sound design are all that hold the action scenes together.
Divergent doesn't have the same mass appeal, but it doesn't make it any less impactful than the best that this genre - the science fiction genre, not the young adult subgenre - has to offer.
While I can't recommend "Divergent" to anyone not already fans of the novels, I will say I'm interested in where this series goes.
Woodley makes things believable... and she and James sell their understated relationship.
Woodley plays her part so believably you can't help but root for her despite the juvenile, it's-okay-to-be-different, people-aren't-just-one-thing thematic undertones so simply expressed for the training bra set.
Divergent wishes it had nearly the imagination, creativity and angst-ridden scope as its obvious competitor in Games. Let the vicious vixens Beatrice Prior and Katniss Everdeen duke it out until another dueling dollface comes along to settle the score
All I saw was an overly complicated riff on every YA story cliché.
Not bad for YA rehash.
Super Reviewer
Certainly better than I expected. While the plot can be a bit formulaic and stretched out, this YA novel adaptation slightly rises above with it's intriguing premise (with hints of philosophical intrigue that I hope will get explored more in the two sequels), a solid cast (Shailene Woodley gives a compelling turn as Tris, the film's action heroine), and well-directed action sequences.
Neil Burger's Divergent diverges from greatness. Running for a 130 minutes, the story never finds a consistent pace; taking much too long to develop and rushing with its ending. By employing the lengthy buildup, the film manages to drop interest by the time it begins to pick up for its finale. There isn't much action, it isn't much of an a adventure, and the special effects are used sparingly. Nothing noteworthy stands out in this department. The characters are bland along with much of the performances. Shailene Woodley is difficult to take serious with her role, although the lack of action makes it more reasonable. Theo James is as monotone as his character's name. Four. Divergent does enough to get by, but not enough to be a recommendation.
When I first saw the trailer for this I rolled my eyes and said "Hunger Games ripoff". Now, it's not a ripoff, but had "Hunger Games" not been a success I doubt this would have been made. I'm not really going to try to describe the story of this movie, but if you don't know it won't make a lick of sense. It's a little complicated and requires your full attention. Now, when I watched it it was one of those "on in the background" situations where I was doing something else and not watching as intently as I should have been. But, I got the jest of it. Shailene Woodley is fantastic and really the biggest reason to watch this. The effects and overall story are just ok, but Woodley is electric. She is a star on the rise for sure. For what it is, it's decent enough. Girls will probably like this a lot more than the guys will, because it doesn't have a whole lot of action. But, it is interesting, and I'll check out the sequels for sure. Just have to make sure I rewatch this as a refresher. Worth a watch.
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