Insurgent

It could go either way I guess....

Insurgent, the second film in the Divergent series was released in theaters on March 20 in the US. Based on

the original novels by Veronica Roth, the movie continues the story of Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) as she fights against the system in a dystopian world. Following the events of the previous film, we see Tris and her friends (Theo James, Ansel Elgort, and Miles Teller) now on the run from the Erudite faction, led by Jeanine (Kate Winslet) who has ordered the capture of any Divergents in order to open a black box that can only be opened by a Divergent.

Jump da bump for the review!

In general, the acting from the young band of protagonists is impressive. Unfortunately, Winslet disappoints greatly, giving an uninspired, if not wooden performance. In general, the action choreography was nice, as it should be given that this movie is trying to be a girl-centric action flick.

Wonder when we get the Nerf version?

The main star of the movie, as is common today, is the CGI special effects. While decent by today’s standards, at points the effects are underwhelming, looking as though the actors have been transposed into a Playstation 3 video game. While the scenes with sci-fi cityscapes look attractive, the effects tend to not look so good during later action scenes involving Woodley (or perhaps her stunt actress) jumping around on a burning building.

I don't even....

In summary, not a particularly bad film, and not particularly good film either. By and large this movie is a culmination of, if you will excuse me for a second, divergent pop culture influences. By and large, this is spurned on by the massive popularity of “The Hunger Games” and the now popular “action girl” sub-genre. The gun battle scenes largely felt like watching footage from a “Call of Duty” game, and the epic CGI stunt scenes were straight from a “Transformers” movie. Sadly, one of the main problems is that the film suffers from some plot holes. While those can be overlooked, the point of a sci-fi story, the meat and potatoes if you will, is world building. Many of this movie’s plot holes are created by the lack of clear and detailed world building. While this is a typical problem that sci-action novel adaptations run into, greater care in the details would have been appreciated. 

Err...I know it's a dystopia, but there are limits to probing!

If you’re into jargon heavy teen sci-fi stuff that boils down to being a girl-centric take on the classic Rambo character, this is for you. However, if you’ve not read the novels, are growing somewhat tired of the typical CGI spectacles, or just aren’t into sci-fi stuff, there are probably better things to do with you time and/or money. If nothing else, this is probably a decent timewaster for its eventual appearance on Netflix.

For those interested, the official trailer courtesy of Youtube!