The Divergent Series: Insurgent
(2015)
(SPOILERS) I quite enjoyed the first Divergent, mostly because Shailene Woodley gave a really strong
performance, but also because Neil Burger managed to somehow drive the picture
forward engagingly in spite of the nonsensical premise. Robert Schwentke picks
up the reins for the sequel, and has no such luck. While the first 40 minutes
are reasonable, it soon becomes apparent that Insurgent’s idea of plot progression is having Tris confront yet
more bland, CGI-infused virtual realities.
I even preferred the first movie to the most recent
instalment of that darling of YAs, The
Hunger Games, but Insurgent
really does everything in its power to support the view that the series is a
poorly devised facsimile of any given dystopia, just one that’s more difficult
to swallow. It will be interesting to see how the second Maze Runner does, since there was a picture that exceeded box
office expectations but conversely had similar problems to Divergent in nursing negligible internal logic.
Here, we pick up soon after the original, with Tris, Four
(Theo James), Peter (Miles Teller) and Caleb (Ansel Eglort) on the run. And
that’s the best bit, really, with Jai Courtney well cast for a change as the
psychopath on their heels. We also have Daniel Dae Kim obligingly putting Tris
and Four on trial, and brother Caleb betraying sis in a subplot that’s never as
potent as it should be, but for the most part this is about arch-bitch Kate
Winslet trying to open an ornate box that isn’t, alas, the one from Hellraiser.
Naturally, Tris is the key; as a 100% divergent so she must
take the test of being a five-quadrant faction special case, plunging into very
obvious simulations and coming out with flying colours. But wait, wasn’t the
whole point of the first movie that she could tell the difference between fake
reality and real reality? Never mind, it’s the hook of the series, and nothing
making any sense hasn’t stopped it before. As it turns out, the rather dull
secret is that there is life beyond the wall and, since similar ideas have
already been explored in The Giver
and Maze Runner, probably no one’s
that excited to find out in Astringent
Parts 1 and 2.
For which, it appears Naomi Watts will be cashing the
cheques Kate has surrendered, probably not the lesser of two evils son Four (no
shit she had him young) hoped. Also back, poor Miles Teller who would prefer to
make better use of his time (he shouldn’t be so miserable, he make more of an
impression here than in Fantastic Four
and gets the few witty lines).
Lionsgate must be licking their wounds a bit, wondering what
went wrong with this series. Divergent
was no Hunger Games, that was clear
off the bat, but they probably had a reasonable expectations the franchise would
find a growing audience, rather than a more expensive sequel to negligible extra
return (slightly more globally, slightly less US). This is the studio’s last
cash cow YA franchise (Hunger Games ends
this year), but it looks like the milk’s run dry.
Comments
Post a Comment