Film Review: Shortage of Spark Makes ‘The Divergent Series: Insurgent’ a Second-String Effort

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Average: 5 (1 vote)

CHICAGO – “The Divergent Series: Insurgent” does nothing to change the “Divergent” series status as an off-brand Young Adult epic. As we’ve seen with “The Hunger Games,” these Young Adult franchises can be lots of fun and be faithful to their source material. But “Insurgent” has the same problem as the first two “Harry Potter” films – it’s too faithful, coupled with a dearth of inspiration behind the camera.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 2.5/5.0
Rating: 2.5/5.0

Director Robert Schwentke and screenwriters Akiva Goldsman, Mark Bomback, and Brian Duffield are more interested in playing it safe than in creating anything memorable. This series only lands glancing blows when its emotional arcs should lead to blockbuster knockouts.

The film picks up shortly after the events of the first film, and picks up the pace. Tris (Shailene Woodley) and her fellow Divergents are on the run after main baddie Jeanine (Kate Winslet) declares martial law and promises to stamp them out once and for all to preserve the class system inside the futuristic digitally decayed Chicago. Woodley portrays a credibly complicated heroine. She’s bloodthirsty for revenge after the deaths of her parents, but also not exactly sure that killing Jeanine will solve her problems. Her brother (Ansel Elgort) is extremely uncomfortable with life on the run and longs for a return to the fractured order of the faction system consisting of Amity, Dauntless, Abnegation, Candor, and Erudite.

“Insurgent” opens everywhere on March 20th. Featuring Shailene Woodley. Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Miles Teller, Theo James and Octavia Spencer. Screenplay adapted by Brian Duffield, Akiva Goldsman and Mark Bombeck, from the novel by Veronica Roth. Directed by Robert Schwentke. Rated “PG-13”

StarContinue reading for Spike Walters’ full review of “Insurgent”

”Shailene
Shailene Woodley as Tris in ‘Insurgent’
Photo credit: Lionsgate

StarContinue reading for Spike Walters' full review of "Insurgent”

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