Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Naomi Watts, Suki Waterhouse
Director: Robert Shwentke
Genre: Science fiction, action
Running time: 119 minutes
Now showing at Century Cinemax, Acacia Mall, Kisementi and Cinema Magic, Metroplex Mall, Naalya
The last time we saw Tris (Woodley) and Four (James), they were riding a train, having escaped from the Erudite’s control centre. If you are aganzi after reading that sentence, let’s take a recap.
In Divergent, which was the first installment of The Divergent Series, we were introduced to a dystopic Chicago in the aftermath of a war.
To have some semblance of order, the city was enclosed in a wall and divided into five factions depending on a person’s character.
The intelligent fell under Erudite, the honest under Candor, the peaceful under Amity, the brave under Dauntless and the selfless under Abnegation, who are the leaders.
Our protagonist Tris turned out to have all five characters, making her a divergent, which was not something advertised, so she joined Dauntless. Stuff happened and Tris found herself on the wrong side of Jeanine Matthews (Winslet), the Erudite leader. So at the end of the movie, she was escaping with Four, her fellow divergent and love interest.
In Insurgent, the two are looking for allies so that they can face the Erudites and ensure that they didn’t lose loved ones for nothing. Tris is also learning some things about her past, which she has to deal with in order to protect the people around her from Matthews and her people. In short, expect a lot of action.
However, there is something about middle films that just makes them a little less exciting than the first and last movies. Insurgent is not exempt from this. Sure there is a lot of action but this is delivered in several special effect shots that it gets a little dizzying. Also, these effects take away from the appeal Veronica Roth injects into the book versions.
In the books, it is clear that Roth is targeting teenagers but Insurgent takes things to a level that may get boring for the target audience. This is mainly because we don’t get a lot of time to connect to the actors, save Winslet who manages to get you really angry.
Now, if you are an action and special effects buff, you will enjoy the movie. Otherwise, it is clear that this is just a stepping stone to another movie –the last part of the series, which is coming out in two parts.