Divergent
Year: 2014
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Jai Courtney, Theo James, Zoe Kravitz, Miles Teller, Kate Winslet & Shailene Woodley
Runtime: 140 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 28/11/23
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Jai Courtney, Theo James, Zoe Kravitz, Miles Teller, Kate Winslet & Shailene Woodley
Runtime: 140 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 28/11/23
The recent release of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes made me want to revisit the YA film genre, and more specifically the Divergent series. The first film, aptly titled Divergent, released in 2014 at the peak of Hunger Games’ hype, but crucially missing out on the genre peak around the time of the end of Harry Potter and Twilight. The genre was already suffering from over-saturation at this point and the target audience for most of these projects were now starting to transition out of young adulthood into…well, adulthood. Hunger Games managed to survive arguably because of its more mature themes, but Divergent had an uphill battle from the start that would ultimately lead to one of the biggest Hollywood franchise failures of the 2010’s, and the franchise was largely blamed for the death of the YA genre. I watched Divergent and its sequel Insurgent in early 2016 and the swiftly forgot everything about them, and I never watched the third and final film. So join me as I look back at a franchise that managed to launch the careers of a number of now big name Hollywood stars, but was cancelled before it could even wrap itself up.
In a future dystopian Chicago, society has been divided into five clans based on personality traits. The intellectual Erudite, the brave Dauntless, the peaceful Amity, the honest Candor, and the selfless Abnegation. Beatrice ‘Triss’ Prior (Shailene Woodley) is a daughter of Abnegation, but the day has come for her to decide her future and either stay loyal to her clan or forge a new path for herself. When her test results designate her ‘Divergent’, a person who shows multiple traits, she is warned to conceal this and lay low. But when Triss chooses Dauntless she puts herself in the crosshairs of Dauntless leader Eric (Jai Cortney) and Erudite leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet). With the help of Dauntless instructor Four (Theo James), Triss must embrace her new life to hide her true powers, whilst she also uncovers a sinister Erudite plot to use Dauntless to eradicate Abnegation.
In a future dystopian Chicago, society has been divided into five clans based on personality traits. The intellectual Erudite, the brave Dauntless, the peaceful Amity, the honest Candor, and the selfless Abnegation. Beatrice ‘Triss’ Prior (Shailene Woodley) is a daughter of Abnegation, but the day has come for her to decide her future and either stay loyal to her clan or forge a new path for herself. When her test results designate her ‘Divergent’, a person who shows multiple traits, she is warned to conceal this and lay low. But when Triss chooses Dauntless she puts herself in the crosshairs of Dauntless leader Eric (Jai Cortney) and Erudite leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet). With the help of Dauntless instructor Four (Theo James), Triss must embrace her new life to hide her true powers, whilst she also uncovers a sinister Erudite plot to use Dauntless to eradicate Abnegation.
The first major hurdle Divergent has to overcome is the similarities to The Hunger Games. A dystopian society that forces its children to partake in a brutal ritual that reinforces the totalitarian regime they live under. Not only did this make Divergent struggle to stand out as it appeared to be little more than an imitation, it also presents a far more complicated and less believable dystopian society than The Hunger Games did. A society divided by personality traits, and only a small number of people have multiple traits? Plus traits are categorised into intelligence, bravery, peacefulness, selflessness, and truthfulness, which aren’t exactly the most clear cut of criteria because a lot of them overlap in their makeup. For example, someone who’s selfless is likely going to be peaceful, truthfulness usually requires bravery; and true intelligence would arguably encompass all of them.
I then also have my issues with the factions in general. Most prominent of them all is that Dauntless are effectively law enforcement, or peacekeepers. Now firstly as we have established by their traits, Amity are the peaceful ones, so why are they not in charge of keeping the peace? Secondly Dauntless struggle to keep their own members in check, yet they are trusted to keep the other factions safe? Also, why do they run everywhere, and climb everything? It’s so dumb it kind of hurts.
I also have an issue with Erudite’s evil plans. Mostly that these are supposed to be the intelligent faction but they don’t seem to have thought through what will happen once Amity and Candor discover that they’ve been controlling Dauntless to commit genocide against Abnegation. It also doesn’t really make sense as to why Dauntless’ leaders are ok with their faction being turned into mindless killing machines for the use of another faction. The whole thing just doesn’t make sense.
I then also have my issues with the factions in general. Most prominent of them all is that Dauntless are effectively law enforcement, or peacekeepers. Now firstly as we have established by their traits, Amity are the peaceful ones, so why are they not in charge of keeping the peace? Secondly Dauntless struggle to keep their own members in check, yet they are trusted to keep the other factions safe? Also, why do they run everywhere, and climb everything? It’s so dumb it kind of hurts.
I also have an issue with Erudite’s evil plans. Mostly that these are supposed to be the intelligent faction but they don’t seem to have thought through what will happen once Amity and Candor discover that they’ve been controlling Dauntless to commit genocide against Abnegation. It also doesn’t really make sense as to why Dauntless’ leaders are ok with their faction being turned into mindless killing machines for the use of another faction. The whole thing just doesn’t make sense.
This being said the first act does a good job of explaining how the world functions and the role each faction plays. It’s the most interesting portion of the film and the most well paced. From here though it kind of goes downhill. The second act drags on far too long as Triss trains to be accepted as a member of Dauntless and the third act does a mad sprint to the finish whilst also failing to wrap anything up because it just suddenly ends in the middle of everything.
I understand that this was always planned to be a multi-film franchise, but at least the other YA franchises tended to tie up most of the major plot threads of the first film come the credits. Divergent just slaps you in the face with credits just as things start to get good, and I guess the book is also like that because this isn’t a case of a film like Dune or IT where it’s one book split in the middle, this film adapts one novel in its entirety.
Woodley is by far the best part of the whole film, and her performance is generally quite solid. It’s easy to see why she was pegged as a rising star in the early 2010’s because she is more than capable of carrying this whole film on her shoulders.
I didn’t buy the romance between Triss and Four however and that largely stems from the lack of chemistry between Woodley and James. It also feels horrendously crowbarred into a story that’s already juggling too many plates. It doesn’t need it and it only serves to further bloat the flabby plot.
Miles Teller does deliver a solid performance as one of the secondary antagonists, Peter, a fellow Dauntless trainee. Like Woodley, Teller was pegged as a rising star who went on to do great things, and it’s clear as day here just how strong his talents are.
Looking back on it now it’s easy to see how Divergent failed. A lack of innovation on the genre, and a complicated and generally slow paced story plague this property. Despite performing well at the box office, there was little buzz about Divergent following its release and it’s a franchise that’s been all but forgotten in 2023. It marked the beginning of the end for the YA genre, and its sequels would only bury the hatchet further.
I understand that this was always planned to be a multi-film franchise, but at least the other YA franchises tended to tie up most of the major plot threads of the first film come the credits. Divergent just slaps you in the face with credits just as things start to get good, and I guess the book is also like that because this isn’t a case of a film like Dune or IT where it’s one book split in the middle, this film adapts one novel in its entirety.
Woodley is by far the best part of the whole film, and her performance is generally quite solid. It’s easy to see why she was pegged as a rising star in the early 2010’s because she is more than capable of carrying this whole film on her shoulders.
I didn’t buy the romance between Triss and Four however and that largely stems from the lack of chemistry between Woodley and James. It also feels horrendously crowbarred into a story that’s already juggling too many plates. It doesn’t need it and it only serves to further bloat the flabby plot.
Miles Teller does deliver a solid performance as one of the secondary antagonists, Peter, a fellow Dauntless trainee. Like Woodley, Teller was pegged as a rising star who went on to do great things, and it’s clear as day here just how strong his talents are.
Looking back on it now it’s easy to see how Divergent failed. A lack of innovation on the genre, and a complicated and generally slow paced story plague this property. Despite performing well at the box office, there was little buzz about Divergent following its release and it’s a franchise that’s been all but forgotten in 2023. It marked the beginning of the end for the YA genre, and its sequels would only bury the hatchet further.