The Divergent Series: Insurgent

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Hello. I first have to apologize for being on such a long hiatus from blogging. The truth is, I went on a long overseas detachment at the end of last year and never had the urge to post new entries ever since. However, my mind changed after watching The Divergent Series: Insurgent. I am a fan of the novels written by Veronica Roth and watching the film has generated a lot of thoughts in my mind which I really hope to share. So, here is my review for The Divergent Series: Insurgent.

The Divergent Series: Insurgent takes off almost immediately after the events of the previous film, and we see Tris, Four, Caleb and Peter taking refuge in Amity. Tris plans to plot her revenge on Jeanine, the leader of Erudite.  Meanwhile Jeanine finds a box in the home of Tris’s parents which she believed contained a message from the city founders that could help end the divergent problem.  However, the box can only be opened by a Divergent and thus leading to Jeanine beginning her hunt for Divergents.

I think that people who have not read the books would find the film rather enjoyable to watch, it is action-packed, visually stunning and it conveys the themes of heroism and individual identity very well. But, readers of the Veronica Roth series would be slightly disturbed by the fact that the film differs greatly from its source material, especially with the addition of “The Box” (seen in the film’s trailer) in the film’s storyline.

I understand why the filmmakers have to change almost the entire narrative of the film. Veronica Roth’s Insurgent is a lengthy book crammed with vivid details of the numerous twists and turns in the plot. A 2-hour film simply cannot support such an amount of content and thus an enormous amount of story had to be cut out or changed and the concept of “The Box” had to be incorporated to make the storyline coherent. I personally enjoyed some of changes as it brought in some level of originality to the film. Despite reading the books, I still would have no clue as to how a particular scene or moment would turn out. However, I felt that some of the moments from the books that impacted me the most were lost in translation and made up for with visuals to make the film look nicer.

I was also disappointed that the film adaptation downplayed of many of the supporting characters. Veronica Roth’s novels introduced us to a diverse list of supporting characters from the start, each with a unique personality and connection with Tris, and many of them had an integral role to play in the plot of the Insurgent novel. However, the film decided to focus more on the relationship between Tris and Four, as well as the tensions between Tris and Caleb and Peter that these supporting characters were either completely cut from the film or given mere seconds of screen-time.

In all, The Divergent Series: Insurgent is an intriguing, action-packed with incredible visuals that would, at the very least, entertain the audience. However, the film compromised a more intricate plot that the source material had to offer, as well as the development of many supporting characters for a predictable plot that is easier to follow and a more focused development of the two main characters. The film hits you where it wants to hit you but when it does, it lacks the intensity to leave a lasting impression behind.