Divergent Review

...to divert or not to divert....

Divergent Review – When I saw the poster for this movie, I thought….oh no….not another star-crossed-rebel-teenage-adult-love flick. We already had Twilight saga (thank God it stopped at 3 books), The Host (alien gone softie), The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (even cheesier than Twilight) and The Hunger Games (this I like!) and now this? I even forgo preview tickets only to find out later that it was not such a bad watch. I also got to know that it was based on best seller and there’s a total of 6 books altogether under this franchise. Another intriguing catch was the Producer managed to get Kate Winslet to play not her usual pleasant role…..hmm….interesting….ok. Berkorban duit sikit lah tengok gambar ni with my crazy nut movie buddy.

....can you say CASH MACHINE??? 

Just like The Hunger Games, the setting was post war scene with focus on Windy City, Chicago! The people in charge have decided to separate societies according to faction namely Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave) and Erudite (the intelligent) so ‘things’ will remain ‘in order’. Those who don’t belong to any faction are known as faction less (duh!) and then there are those who don’t fit into any of the faction known as Divergent. They are feared by Erudite as they worry Divergent will interrupt the ‘faction chain’. In comes Beatrice "Tris" Prior (Shailene Woodley), born as an Abnegation but somehow doesn’t carry the selfless ‘value’. Her chance to switch faction comes when she reaches 16 years old and had to take an exam to determine which group she belongs to. The test however reveals something else and she finally ends up with Dauntless. She had to go thru rigorous training to become an official member. Tris had to learn to adapt to her new living environment fast and with the help of Tobias ‘Four’ (Theo James) manage to survive. Both of them develop chemistry and discover a bigger scheme brewing for a hostile take-over. Will Tris and Four able to stop plot in time before innocent lives are lost?

...to survive Dauntless....

Except for Kate Winslet, Ashley Judd, Maggie Q and Zoe Kravitz, the main cast are not actually big names but my guess is they will be once the Divergent fever diverts the teeny boppers and those alike to this franchise. Despite being fairly un-known, main cast consisting of Shailene Woodley did a decent job playing a confused girl trying to fit in while Theo was just drool-worthy no matter what he did. Add Jai (with Macklemore kinda haircut) to the mix and it was like…yum yum yummy. The well-known actors however were reduced into playing supporting part which was just enough to highlight their talent. Ashley was a convincing mother, Maggie was….well…she was in the movie. While Kate was hot as women hungry for power! Her strong character simply made it hard for me to hate her. I love you Kate! I love you long long time! The set and mood for the movie was captured appropriately with minimal special effects. Stunt job was not bad too with the Dauntless hopping and jumping here and there.

....I would 'eye' this cutie too!!! #yummy! 

....nak join Dauntless gak for this hensem man! #drool

From the reaction of the movie goers, they seemed like they enjoyed themselves. Heck, to be honest so did my friend and I. There were some annoying moments here and there but we were most bumped when an important scene were snipped off.  The cinema also sighed in agreement! Haiyaaaaa!!! Apa la lu!!! Overall it was a reasonable watch not counting the running time of almost 2 hours and 20 minutes. It did felt kinda draggy at some parts but you will forget/forgive it once you see Theo/Jai. Those two man….Jacob and Edward who??? Hehehe….go catch it if you can while I wait for the sequel to come out soon.