THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT – The Review

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the DIVERGENT series isn’t anything new. Shocking, right? Of course the DIVERGENT films like many of these dystopian-set young adult adaptations borrow from the same classics that I won’t go through for the umpteenth time. But the series has reached a point where they are aping one another to the point of parody. It even goes beyond me thinking it was called INSURGENT when I was walking into ALLEGIANT. As much as I (surprisingly) enjoyed the coming of age, journey of self-discovery story that was the basis of the first film DIVERGENT, the formula of each are all so closely related that you could call this series “Convergent.”
All three films constantly fall into the same plot structure as our sharp-shooting but not so bright heroes Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) join up with a new group of similar rebels that seem to be against the baddies. Of course, just like the last two films, you suspect that you can’t trust this new group and their intentions.

Just like THE HUNGER GAMES films and THE MAZE RUNNER films, the DIVERGENT series also takes itself way too seriously as it tries desperately to present a foreboding and unique adventure series, even though they all could potentially be set in the same universe to create a Marvel shared-universe. On the bright side, the DIVERGENT series at least offers a few positives. Chief among them is the cast. Sure this series doesn’t have quite the same level of talent as that other known series like Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore, and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, but this series has a strong cast of underdogs including more unknown actors like Theo James and Zoe Kravitz who more than hold their own alongside the name talent like Naomi Watts, Shailene Woodley, and newcomer to the series Jeff Daniels (who delivers line a practically comatose state).

One of the other positives that sets this above those HUNGER films is the visual imagination that occasionally breathes new life into the film. Whether it’s raining blood on a Mars-esque nuclear wasteland or it’s the design of a high-tech tower that that looks like a cross between Vahan Misakyan’s “Evolving Skyscraper” and something out of the Jetsons, the film is consistently intriguing looking even if its meager budget prevents the CGI visuals from really coming to life.

ALLEGIANT is frequently silly and its dialogue might be the clunkiest the series has given us yet. However, the story is relatively self-contained for newcomers, focusing mainly on being a concise tale of a group of outsiders believing in themselves. The most frustrating aspect is that the characters don’t ever seem to grow or change very much. In fact, they often face the same problems just with a new villain of the week running the show. On the other hand, at least each of the three stands on their own without having to worry about sprinkling crumbs and clues to hint at a big final battle. Each has a clear story arc, albeit one that feels far too familiar.

OVERALL RATING: 2.5 out of 5

THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT is now in theaters everywhere