March 23, 2014

Wicked Movie Review: Divergent


Hello! So finally, it's summer! And what better way to start summer by watching a movie. This will be my first movie review. So, there might be spoilers in here. Don't kill me though. I warned you.






So basically, Divergent is about a 16 year old girl named Beatrice Prior who lives in Chicago in the future where society is divided into five factions according to beliefs of selflessness (Abnegation), intelligence (Erudite), bravery (Dauntless), honesty (Candor) and kindness (Amity). They must take an aptitude test that determines what faction is best for them and then participate in the Choosing Ceremony where all the drama takes place. Beatrice has to choose one faction. In this world, they have a saying, 'Faction Before Blood'. It's no different in this world that someday your kids will just choose their own way. And then some would stick with their parents.

This movie is directed by Neil Burger and screenplay is written by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor.

Beatrice Prior is played by Shailene Woodley who will also star as Hazel Lancaster in the tearjerker of the century, The Fault In Our Stars, based on John Green's novel which will premiere later this year. She also played Amy Jurgens in that slightly-annoying-but-still-good-family-drama-that-thank-God-ended-already called 'The Secret Life Of An American Teenager'.


Her older brother, Caleb, is played by Ansel Elgort, who will also star as Augustus Waters in The Fault In Our Stars. Amazing, huh? And he was in 'Carrie' too!


Okay, back to the review. So, Beatrice and her brother both take the aptitude test. And well, Beatrice's results were...let's just say it will change her life. Now, onto the Choosing Ceremony, where it all begins. I knew what faction Beatrice was going to choose. But, while watching it yesterday, I was shaking. I was utterly nervous.

In her new faction, Dauntless, she meets Candor transfer Christina played Zoe Kravitz


Peter played by Miles Teller, who Shailene co-starred with in the movie "Spectacular Now"


Erudite transfer, Will, played by Ben Lloyd-Hughes


and Dauntless legend, Four, played by Theo James


And presenting the villain of all villains. Kidding! This villain is the smartest villain I have ever seen and played by a very versatile actress. Clue: She was five months pregnant when she filmed her scenes. And she's British.

It's none other than


KATE WINSLET as Jeanine Matthews. Jeanine Matthews is the leader for the Erudite faction, who plots to overthrow the Abnegation faction with help from the Dauntless faction. Kate said in an interview that she is thrilled to play a villain. So am I! Her character is anti-Divergent. That's what Tris is. 'Divergents threaten the system.' You see, she loves the faction system.

Miles (Peter) was annoying in portraying Peter. He displayed the right amount of being such a smart ass. Zoe on the other hand needs more spunk because spunky Christina is spunky.

But, Theo. Wow. Aside from the smoldering looks, the accent is amazing. And the fight scenes he did took my breath away. In the book, he was intimidating what with that stare and the jaws and the muscles. Just. WOW. Especially during the knife throwing scene.

Seeing Ansel cry during Divergent broke my heart because I'm going to see him cry in TFIOS later this year. I can't help but mutter 'traitor' under my breath whenever I see his face on screen. You'll know why when you read the next book, Insurgent. *SPOILER* WOOHOOO

Here's another spoiler, FEAR LANDSCAPE

Now, all Dauntless initiates must go through their fear landscapes and conquer them and prove that they are really Dauntless.

In Tris' case though, it makes things really interesting. Most Dauntless initiates take long in the fear landscape room. She is the fastest. This ups her chances in making the cut in Dauntless. She may not be so exemplary in the physical test but in the mental test, she's number one.

There were a few things missing in the movie. But I guess that can be overlooked since turning 390 pages into two hours is no easy task. I was so disappointed when I didn't see this:

DAUNTLESS CAKE


IT'S THE ULTIMATE ESSENCE OF THE WHOLE BOOK AND THE WHOLE DAUNTLESS FACTION AND IT WASN'T THERE. NOOOOOO. IT BREAKS MY HEART. LIKE REALLY. I MEAN, IT'S CAKE. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE CAKE?!

The film just blew my mind out of proportion. It was like I was in the zip line scene like Tris was in. Too bad when I watched it I was alone and pansycakes were in the movie house. TT_TT I would've screamed and just went crazy because I'm such a fangirl. But, alas, I didn't. I shall do it in the confines of my room when the DVD comes out.

The thing about reading the whole trilogy and then releasing a movie after kinda gives you mixed feelings. And the feels for all the fans who read the trilogy and watched the movie is unimaginable. It's hard on the feels, like really. I guess I speak on behalf of the fans of Divergent when I say that watching the movie hurts a lot.

And this concludes my review(?). If you want to call it that, then fine.




If you haven't seen the movie, PLEASE CHECK IT OUT OKAY.
If you haven't read the book and you plan to watch the movie after, GOOD LUCK
If you read the books and watched the movie and you want to watch again, WELL GOOD JOB!



No comments:

Post a Comment