It’s hard not to root for Divergent, the tag-along cousin to the Hunger Games franchise.
After all, both series are based on best-selling teen novels, featuring kick-butt heroines trying to effect change in dystopian worlds.
So why does JLaw get all the love when Shailene Woodley can’t even score a cool nickname? (Probably because her name would be ShWoo, not cool at all.)
But Allegiant, the first half of the Divergent Series’ farewell, does nothing to commend Woodley, or set the series apart from others in the genre, weighed down as it is by a too-long run time (more than two hours) and more nonsensical twists and turns than there are futuristic costume changes for leading lady Woodley.
In the third — and weakest — film of the series, Tris Prior (Woodley) and beau Four (Theo James) are weary of the leadership in walled, post-apocalyptic Chicago, where one corrupt leader (Kate Winslet) has been replaced by another, Four’s mother Evelyn (Naomi Watts). The couple finds an opportunity to venture beyond the walls in search for a better life outside, only to discover a pustule-ridden land with blood-red rivers known as the Fringe. Bummer.
We don’t tarry long, however, before being transported even further into the future and to a place known as The Bureau of Genetic Welfare, led by an overly kindly director named David (Jeff Daniels). Four smells a rat right away; Tris drinks the Kool-Aid, seduced by the fact that David deems her “pure” and tells her she holds the secrets to humankind. “You saved a city,” he cajoles, “now help me save the world.”
That’s right: the Divergent group, which includes Tris’s brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort), pal Christina (Zoe Kravitz) and comic relief Peter (Miles Teller), are split into factions again, Pure and Damaged. There isn’t time to extrapolate how our society already weeds out less desirable traits with author Veronica Roth’s vision of the future, because we’re too busy flying in space pods, taking side trips to steal children, outrunning clouds of bright orange gas, and getting into lots and lots of fistfights, though it’s not always clear why.
A super-cool over-the-wall stunt is ruined by the groaner line “we’re gonna be OK,” which any self-respecting movie fan knows means imminent death. Some impressive computer-generated effects are overshadowed by equally horrendous green-screen moments. Worse still is the unconvincing civil war between Evelyn and Amity leader Joanna (Octavia Spencer) and the lack of motivation or rationale for much of what transpires.
Tris has gone from bold to blah: she’s stopped calling the shots and is led by David and Four. Romance is dialed down, too, since she and Four can’t even find a decent place to make out, and Four is casting sideways glances at that angry-looking gal.
With a wandering storyline and a withering heroine, it remains to be seen how many fans will stick around for the finale.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant opens this week at Scotiabank and Fifth Avenue.
