In a post-apocalyptic Chicago, decimated by war and walled-in with electric fences, 16-year-old Beatrice (Woodley) prepares for her society's ritualistic division of careers. When they come of age, teenagers in this oppressive future choose one of five “factions” in which to live their lives: Abnegation, Beatrice's original home team, dedicated to helping others; Amity, peacekeeping farmer hippies; Candor, by-the-book lawyer types; Dauntless, enforcers who spend most of their time at the gym; and Erudite, smartypants intellectuals who bow at the alter of research. Though teens are given an aptitude test to determine a suitable faction (Divergent's version of the sorting hat), each individual has the right to choose their home when society holds its annual Reaping, er, “Choosing Day.”
Unlike other Abnegation-for-lifers, Beatrice feels the draw of other factions. A brainwave assessment reveals why: She's Divergent, highly skilled in a number of areas (in Beatrice's case, Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless). The bigwigs upstairs see Divergents as threats to their “perfect” world. So Beatrice keeps her secret close to the chest, enlisting in Dauntless in order to... have a more action-oriented plot.
With all its explanation, Divergent is careless in setting up an arc for Tris (as she rebrands herself in the Dauntless faction) or fleshing out why all the world's rules are the way they are. Roth's communistic version of Chicago is intriguing and complex but void of reasoning. There are factions just because (and maybe future sequels explain it, but I'm watching this movie).
Likewise, Tris' decision to join Dauntless is more an exercise in livening up the screen than logically elevating her to hero status. As a fish out of water, Tris befriends Christina (Zoë Kravitz) and Al (Christian Madsen), fellow runts of the incoming troops, attracts enemies both seasoned, like the aggressive trainer Eric (Jai Courtney), and fresh-faced (Miles Teller, as hotshot trainee Peter), and strikes up with a longing-gaze romance with Dauntless mentor Four (James).
A majority of the film examines the inner-workings of the Dauntless clan, who appear to train in repurposed Hunger Game sets. Divergent has a violent edge that its predecessors lack — Dauntless soldiers box, throw knives, shoot guns, and prey on each other with bloody results — but rudimentary schooling is still rudimentary schooling. Burger's take on Dauntless war games has all the vigor of sitting in on a high school math class.As the Dauntless first-years compete for slots at the top of the class, an enemy trickles into Divergent. Kate Winslet costars as Erudite puppetmaster Jeanine, who intends to wipe out the Abnegation faction in order to claim the society's resources. She's icy and quietly ferocious, despite the little material around for the Oscar winner to chew on. Jeanie's plan that finally forces Tris to confront her life choices is abrupt and contrived, coincidentally pitting her current faction against her past. It's like Tris exists in her own Truman Show, where world events are orchestrated to draw the meek Divergent out of her shell. The scenes where Winslet and Woodley spar are highlights and rarities. What the script lacks in moral complexity and Orwellian thrills, the two actresses deliver with identifiable realism.
Divergent lucks out in the talent department. The film combats a cheap vision, from its drab sets, faux-punk costumes that turn the Dauntless faction into a perpetual nu metal concert, and a reliance on “grief porn” drama — the film's haphazard use of suicide and child abuse to provoke audience reactions is downright egregious. But Woodley and relative newcomer James add spice to the recipe. Wide-eyed and elegant, Woodley maneuvers through dystopian obstacles with conviction. James, as hearthrobby as they come, is compassionate even while spouting drill sergeant diction.
When their relationship grows to one-on-one training, plugging into Tris' mind via a dream machine to confront her visually-startling fears (she has nightmares of being attacked by birds while stuck in the mud and surrounded by fire, as most of us do), they become a sprightly pair that could easily handle an action vehicle with actual dynamism. Divergent wastes them.
The tentpole landscape is sorely in need of strong female leads — but not like this. Tris is an underwritten pawn in a work of live-action fan fiction. She fights for free will and individuality in a movie that's void of either. While Burger can stage a shootout and cut together a training montage, he's crippled by Divergent's lack of perspective.Elaborate rules and constructs are enough to fuel a day of Dungeons & Dragons, but not a movie. There's no challenge for Divergent to be any good, only to replicate the success of far better movies. The film ends with cataclysmic events reshaping the world forever. That would have been a solid beginning.
Verdict
The film version of Veronica Roth's best-seller Divergent offers nothing new to differentiate it from the many other dystopian, YA screen adaptations of the last several years.
