I’ve been a fan of these books ever since the first, so I was a little apprehensive when they were turning this series of books into films. However, once I watched the film my opinion changed for the good.
For those who are familiar with the overall plot of Divergent and the entire series apologise for the brief explanation of the concept. Written by Veronica Roth, set in a futuristic dystopian Chicago, the film follows the adventure of Beatrice “Tris” Prior as she explores and discovers her own identity that has been defined by those in power who categorise people based on their social and personality aspects, dividing them up into five factions – Abnegation (the Selfless), Erudite (the intelligent), Amity (the peaceful), Dauntless (the brave) and Candor (the honest).
The cast of the film were spot on like most YA orientated book adaptations are such as The Hunger Games. Even though there were criticisms about Theo James being too old to portray Four these were soon quelled when the chemistry between James and Woodley was apparent on the big screen. There were numerous other well know actors that had auditioned for the role as Four, such as Lucas Till, Jeremy Irvine, Alex Pettyfer and Alexander Ludwig, all of which lost to Theo James.
There were big names in Divergent such as Kate Winslet, Mekhi Phifer, Tony Goldwyn, Maggie Q, Ashley Judd and many others.
The film follows the same structure as the book does which has helped with its success. The only thing that I had to criticised is that it took a while for me to adjust to the actors they had chosen for the roles such as Jai Courtney as Eric and even the main actors themselves.
I was glad to hear that they are going to do the next two films – Insurgent and Allegiant. The latter being split into two which seemed to be the tradition these days with films.
I give the film a strong 8 out of 10. Strong action scenes, kept to the book and can’t wait for the sequel in March 20, 2015.
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