The Divergent Series: Insurgent (*includes SPOILERS)

[INTRODUCTION]

About three weeks ago, I was browsing Amazon Prime looking for something to watch when I cam across Divergent, and with no better choice I watched it. 

I should at this point probably tell you that I have not seen Twilight or The Hunger Games or even Harry Potter and I don't tend to read YA genre books. Its not a conscious decision but its just happened that way. I also don't tend to read dystopian themed books either. 

So, returning back to Divergent, and my expectations weren't high or low, and I noticed that Miles Teller was in it (and I had seen him in That Awkward Moment) and thought I would give it a watch. I was pleasantly surprised that it was watchable and I enjoyed it, I enjoyed it enough to decide then that I would watch Insurgent when it was released. Little did I know that it was about to be unleashed in just a few short weeks! 

I went to see it on its release day.

[EXPECTATION]

I really could only expect much the same as Divergent, I still had not read the books or googled the story synopsis, but I hoped for something in the story line that would progress the film on (what with it being film 2 of 3.

[SUMMATION*]

So, basically, Tris, Four, Caleb and Peter find refuge at the Amity faction whilst deciding on their next move. However, Jeanine has found a box that she was apparently always looking for and in order to open it needs a Divergent. So she is raiding everywhere, abducting Divergents and submitting those who are strong Divergents to the simulations for all factions in order to open the box. The box containing a message from the people who built the city. In the end she discovers that she needs Tris to open the box (oh the irony - which she goes on about) and needs to flush her out. In the end she does, Tris does the simulation, and the message is positive for Divergents and tells us that there are people outside the walls.

Now, my summary is very short and just breezes over the storyline and the reason for this you will find out in the next section!

[ADULATION & ABERRATION]

Where do I start? No, seriously, where? This movie (I just checked) made a ridiculous amount of money and a fair amount of people loved it, but I was underwhelmed and left wondering how I could have been duped by the first movie into seeing this one.

I found myself disappointed within the first twenty minutes and confused and conned by the first film, I also wondered if maybe I has watched Divergent in a moment of weakness and thus thought it had been good.

I was just distracted by EVERYTHING! and I mean everything. I noticed that the dialogue was a little trite, and I hated the cutting of her hair (not least because of the cheapest looking poorly styled wig that she wore before giving her hair the chop) because its such a cliche, I disliked the storyline, not least because there was mention that it was 200 years ago that the city was built yet Four and Tris' parents were founders? Its quite possible I miss understood this and they were just faction leaders but still, that bit was confusing. It was a nice message but really not the most exciting. I found the story line didn't race forward but rather took a slow jog. There was a character who had a conversation with Tris and then later it was the memory of this conversation that helped her pass a simulation. It annoyed me. Tris never socialised with anyone really and here she was just idly chatting on the roof whilst Four had popped out? That made no sense when I was watching it, and when the simulation happened it was very much an eye roll from me, and a seconds thought to what other scenes were left on the cutting room floor. There was little character development. But the biggest bugbear I had...was the wardrobe choice of Tris...a scene early on distracted me (so good was the story) and every scene after I checked out what everyone was wearing and it just annoyed me even more. What happened was this....

Tris, Four and Caleb leave the Factionless to go to Candour to find some of the Dauntless that left the faction after the final scene in Divergent. They are climbing over rubble, and then Caleb stops and tells Tris that he is going to stay at Amity or go back to Abnegation (I forget now), and I look at her standing there and well.....

You can see she is wearing a gilet type top, thin synthetic fibre, zip fronted and she also has on jeans and boots (no bra!). In this same scene, you can see Four in the backgroudn, he is wearing a jumper, a jacket and jeans....yes, people, a JUMPER AND A JACKET! He must really feel the cold....what is Caleb wearing....oh! A T-shirt, a shirt over that, a wool jacket and jeans....THREE TOP LAYERS! He must really feel the cold....once they get to candour and they are arrested by these guards. 

What are they wearing? Oh! just a tracksuit with a high neck sweatshirt underneath....WHAT?! they must really feel the cold. Never mind, I am sure someone else is not wearing as much...the leader of Candour?

Okay, just a buttoned up shirt and a 3/4 length morning coat! He must really feel the cold. As you can see, it ridiculous, especially as we know Tris has a jacket as she wears it a couple of times.

And don't even get me started on how they pronounce Erudite!  

However, the cast were still the same and I like the cast and so thats a plus, also the special effects were good even if they did become a bit samey and you had the urge to fast forward, there wasn't as much action but there was still action.

[DEDUCTION]

My final rating for this film has got to be 5/10. If you need a comparison, IMDb gave it a rating of 7/10, Metacritic 42/100, and Rotten Tomatoes 31%.