The Divergent Series: Ascendant Movie Review

The Divergent Series: Ascendant Movie Review:   Lots of good effects but so much nonsense in the organization of the society. Only five types of people? Once a camp is chosen, you can't change? No wonder there are suicides and groups that want to take over. Mmmmh, maybe the author was on to something! 

Lots of people want to impose their views as a group and as individuals. This often leads to disasters, as the history of the world demonstrates over and over again. Pretty good acting. Shailene really does look stiff, like her nickname. A bit too much like life in the time of war and upheaval. The advanced sciences make the society look as if composed of rich retards. Worse than hunger games in the genre. But I will see the other films nevertheless, as cinephile and science fiction amateur.

Lots of good effects but so much nonsense in the organization of the society. Only five types of people? Once a camp is chosen, you can't change? No wonder there are suicides and groups that want to take over. Mmmmh, maybe the author was on to something, haha! Lots of people want to impose their views as a group and as individuals. This often leads to disasters, as the history of the world demonstrates over and over again. Pretty good acting. Shailene really does look stiff, like her nickname. A bit too much like life in the time of war and upheaval. The advanced sciences make the society look as if composed of rich retards. Worse than hunger games in the genre. But I will see the other films nevertheless, as cinephile and science fiction amateur.

I was pleasantly surprised. I like the concept and the acting all around, characters were very interesting. Shailene Woodley being a newcomer, I didn't really know if she could carry it but she did. Her character was much better written than a contemporary, Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games...at least in the movies. The Tris character is more realized and you see her ambitions, motivations and you know Tris is a strong independent character because of the choices she made and consequences she faces. Her chemistry with Four was developed and I believed they cared for each other, and I just don't get that much in modern movies anymore. 

The action scenes are well shot and choreographed, with enough focus on each of the characters that we don't lose track. The big climax at the end is a little farfetched but it works in the context of the movie, I suppose. I think mind control plot devices are a bit lazy in general, but because it was set up properly and had plenty of subplots and character development, it was alright. I'll want to see the others now.

The best aspect of this film is its stars, Shailene Woodley and Theo James. The film does have a good premise, but neither a thought-provoking one nor a never seen before kind. The first half of the film is competently made and it does seem good. But as it gets to the second half, the film continuously rides on cliches and more than that, they have no emotion, which tends to be a big problem than the first. Although it turns out to a bit predictable in the first half, we rarely feel it then. Also, similarities with the hit series Hunger Games is also a bit distracting. At some points, the central premise of the movie is in question, that it would be natural in the future for people to have a single kind of feeling, they either be daring or kind or smart and people can't think differently in the future and those who do are divergent. Disregarding all this, the film could have still been better had it been properly directed in the 2nd half. It feels as if two different persons made the two halves of the film.

I think this movie was aimed at 20-somethings who don't really want to think too much when they watch a movie because it's about a group of above-average-looking 20-somethings who are trying to save the world or something like that. And I guess one of my problems is that I can never buy the premise that 20-somethings, who in the real world are generally more interested in taking selfies to post on FB than becoming experts with automatic weapons and being able to topple regimes, are the ones who will save the world. Heck, there was one scene where the main character, a 20-something girl, was running from a group of 10 or so armed men with automatic weapons, while she was weaponless, and they're spraying her with bullets. But they all miss, from a range of maybe 30 feet. And she runs thru some double doors, shuts them, and the entire door is riddled with bullets. But she runs away unhurt. Yeah, right. There was no character development whatsoever, and I couldn't care less about any of them. It was about some factions remaining in a post-apocalyptic world, and the factions are descriptively named stuff like Candor and Dauntless and Erudite and Divergent and Amity and stuff like that because I guess the members of the factions are all "erudite" and "Dauntless" and "amicable" and stuff. And of course, the cool ones who don't belong to any faction, and therefore will be the heroes to save the world, are the Divergents. Geez, why not hit us over the head with the point you're trying to make?.... I guess it's part of a series, which I've never seen, so maybe that's why I'm coming in cold. But the movie was terrible. Boring, and it comes across as a badly done, made-for-TV action flick designed for teenagers.

I think the plot, although simple and predictable in some ways, is novel and thought-provoking in other ways. The actors were good, and I have to say that it kept me interested throughout. I could envision it as a novel on a much more complicated and rich scale. It reminded me of a short sci-fi I once read about the exact same topic. People who could not be programmed for their best subject were considered failures (but in that novel, they secretly were groomed to become leaders (as opposed to killed for fear of their abilities).