I am a big Sci-Fi fan as seen from most of my previous movie reviews. I also am very enthusiastic about fantasy, so join the two together and for me it kind of works. This is why when the divergent franchise began I was immensely excited. I loved the creativity that was put into the post-apocalyptic story-line and no, I don’t believe it was a Hunger Games wannabe as many might think. The story line was creative and uniquely its own even with the similarities to Hunger Games, or The Giver. So for this I praise the author of the Books.
When it comes to the movies, however there has been a lot of dispute. I believe the first movie, Divergent was fantastic, and stayed very close to the original story line. The second movie was a bit quieter and more aimless. Some people found it hard to watch because of the slowness of the story line and the questionable direction of the plot. Yet, us, devoted fans carried on hoping that the third movie, Allegiant would lay to rest once and for all the doubts about this franchise.
DIVERGENT: ALLEGIANT – Official Trailer (2016)
Sadly we were disappointed. If you read other reviews online you will discover the amount of hate people have for this movie which is honestly not all that warranted. I don’t think it was a disgustingly horrible waste of time; it just wasn’t that great a movie.
The story-line starts of where Insurgent left us with the new discovery that there
was a world beyond the wall, and that the factions were being welcomed to go and find this place. After Janine’s death (The main evil chick in Divergent and Insurgent) Evelyn who becomes the new ruler rules in a dictatorial kind of way where she holds show trials for a blood-thirsty mob. She closes every entry way and exit through the wall, and makes it illegal for anyone to actually go and find out what lies beyond the wall.
Fed up with all these bad vibes, Four, Tris, Tris’ brother Caleb, her gal-pal Christina and all-around slime ball Peter, manage to get over the wall and confront what’s on the other side. The revelation is almost as disappointing as when that fussy old Professor Marvel is shown manipulating the levers behind the curtain in “The Wizard of Oz.”
Initially, it’s not a pretty picture but, rather, an enormous toxic waste dump area unappetizingly called “The Fringe.” But suddenly what appear to be hulking military vehicles fly into view to scoop up the gang and take them to what we learn is the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, a futuristic enclave built upon what remains of Chicago International O’Hare Airport.
There are some questions here. For instance: Just how does an isolated community with such depleted resources find a way to manufacture clothes, weapons, furniture, cutting-edge digital gadgets, airborne vehicles, food products and on and on? Also our heroes find out that their factions, what they have believed to be the whole world to this point is only the city of Chicago. Even though the movie gives scanty definitions on humanity being destroyed by experimental modification it’s a bit farfetched to have believed that all those different people and factions could have existed together in the single city of Chicago without needing breathing room.
Along the movie Tris meets David the leader in charge of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, and learns that the faction system was all an experiment. He also explained that there are damaged humans and pure humans and Tris is the only pure one from the Factions. From the get go Four, Tris’ love interest doesn’t trust the slightly egotistical self-proclaimed ruler but Tris wants to believe that he has good intentions at heart so she ends up trusting him and doing everything he tells her to which causes friction between her and four.
The interesting thing is that most of his own people who work at the Bureau don’t even trust David, themselves. Yet, Tris doesn’t give any of them the time of day, only to regret her decision later.
The movie strayed quite a bit from the books which I think is a huge factor in why the fans are disappointed. Also they attempted to divide the last book into two movies as they have done recently in quite a number of young adult movies based off of books such as Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Hunger Games. Yet here they failed in that department. Allegiant was more like a filler movie which probably was the cause for plot holes and unanswered questions but hopefully Ascendant, the last instalment of the Divergent series which comes out in 2017 will do better. This movie may have lost some viewers but to the devoted fans such as I, don’t give up.
We have one more to go, and maybe read the books they do more justice.
Rating: PG-13 (for intense violence and action, thematic elements, and some partial nudity)
Genre: Action & Adventure, Romance, Science
Directed By: Robert Schwentke
Written By: Noah Oppenheim, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Stephen Chbosky
Runtime: 2 hr. 19 min.
