Last March, the movie adaptation of “Divergent” freed a good plot from a poorly written novel and made it worth watching. Since then, fans of Kate Winslet and Theo James have waited expectantly for the release of “Insurgent,” the sequel of “Divergent,” which was released this past weekend.
As a fan of “Divergent”, I decided to go see “Insurgent” with hopeful skepticism. When the movie began, however, my hope quickly faded into despair, and my skepticism turned into cynicism.
Sequels rarely have a unique plot with different themes than the first movie. The “Divergent” novels are a trilogy, however, so there is no excuse for the plot to be so poorly written and hastily churned out.
“Insurgent” is strikingly similar to “Taken 2” or the “Mission: Impossible” series in its pathetic dialogue and dull plot. (If you haven’t read the books, this review is full of spoilers. Fair warning.)
The artistic elements seem to present the idea of perception as one of the movie’s major themes. The protagonist Tris (Shailene Woodly) struggles with seeing herself as a killer. And this conflict is a believable, real element of the plot. At one point, she stands in a glass cell, having just smashed someone’s face against the glass. This question of perception is especially clear here, as she looks through the bloodstained glass — the way she believes everyone else will eventually see her.
At the beginning, Tris is seen looking through a window in a dream. During the last scene, Jeanine (Kate Winslet), president of the Erudites, watches people of all factions walk to freedom as she stands in a cell that she has created. There are windows throughout the film, used in different ways to demonstrate perspective.
As all of the previews suggested, the special effects of “Insurgent” were more pervasive and of better caliber than the “Divergent” effects.
The special effects used in the Simulation missions in “Divergent” included Tris stuck in a box of water — she breaks out by simply tapping on the glass calmly. In “Insurgent,” however, she climbs a burning building that is somehow floating in air and rotating, while it’s carrying her mother. For whatever reason, her mother does not have a single burn when the two meet inside the house.
The effects were strikingly similar to “Inception” — houses moving at angles that defy gravity.
Both at the beginning of the movie and throughout, the pixelation of characters in the Simulations also evoked perspective, as did the windows.
At one point, Four fades into little pixels, which fly away, and Jeanine’s face on a screen is first seen in a pixelated form.There was nothing subtle about it.
Despite some good artistic decisions, the general plot was deeply disappointing compared to the first movie. Tris’ need to forgive herself and to be honest is presented as the problem at the beginning, and the plot plays right into her solving these problems without any surprises. Perhaps I’m unsympathetic to the ‘forgive yourself’ view, but it was played out in a cliched manner.
In the last Sim, Tris has to face her greatest enemy — surprise — herself. The videography during this scene was distractingly ’80s-esque. Woodly’s short hair, also intended to make her look tougher and stronger, simply reveals her baby face. Her attempt at anger seems so unnatural and forced, that it’s hard to take her little face seriously.
In similarly terrible acting, Four meets his mother — surprise, she’s not dead — who, at first, I thought was an ex-lover because of the awkward tension between the two. Four and Tris have a also-cliche lover’s quarrel.
The special effects could not mask the generally bad plot and cringe-worthy dialogue.
As Jeanine searches for the right divergent to master the tests necessary to unlock a box, the contents of which both audience and characters are unaware, Tris is forced to encounter her past and forgive those around her, as well as herself.
The dialogue is laughable, with every attempt at intimidation sounding like a punchline. The dialogue quickly drops every serious or suspenseful moment.
“We must find the very special one,” Jeanine says after killing yet another one of her test subjects.
As a friend who saw the movie with me said, “The words very and special should only be used together on a child’s birthday card.”
It comes as no surprise that the two redeeming — no, decent — qualities of the movie are special effects and Theo James, as BuzzFeed predicted.
Instead of watching the movie, it’d probably be a more efficient use of time to go read the BuzzFeed article “15 Times The Thirst For Theo James Was Too Real,” and save about two hours.
