“I’d like to think there’s more to a person than just one thing.” That’s a line spoken by Shailene Woodley in the indie romance “The Spectacular Now.” Now Woodley stars in “Divergent,” in which that line has been blown up into a complex metaphor and the crux of everything that happens in this dystopian sci-fi action movie based on Veronica Roth’s popular YA novel.
It’s a strong idea, but a shaky premise. “Divergent” is so devoted to the notion that an individual can have multiple personality traits, whether in its plot, dialogue or narrative fabric, it smacks as a largely strained story telling device rather than part of a fleshed out idea or story universe.
That may be a swipe at Roth’s novel more so than the film, but it would matter less if the direction by Neil Burger (“Limitless”) took a lesson from Roth and likewise displayed an individual style and personality. Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor’s script is too faithful to its source material to distinguish itself in the way that its peer “The Hunger Games” has.
Selfless, Peaceful, Honest, Brave and Intelligent: these are the five personality traits that define each of the color-coded “factions” that make up the future-state dystopia of Chicago. They’ve been put in place to keep the peace after war has ravaged the city and a wall has been erected around the vanished Lake Michigan to protect from unspecified threats.
When teenagers come of age, they’re put through a hallucinatory aptitude test designed to place them into one of the five factions. And while most choose the faction they were born into, some are told to take a different path and are forced to leave their home and their family forever.
Such is the dilemma of Beatrice Prior (Woodley), who can’t decide where she belongs and is scared of what the test might tell her, perhaps that she’s “Factionless,” who are depicted as shiftless, homeless bums. When it reveals she’s selfless, brave and intelligent, her proctor explains that she’s Divergent. Divergents are deemed “a threat to the system.” They can’t be classified or controlled among the government’s strict parameters and need to be eradicated.
Beatrice dons the new name Tris and joins Dauntless, the faction aligned with bravery, policing the city and being a bunch of meathead bros. Their initiation rituals are a mix of military boot camp and frat boy hazing amounting to, “Don’t think, just do it; you want to be a Dauntless, don’t you?”
She slowly rises in the ranks of the Dauntless, uses her Divergent intuition to overcome simulated challenges and falls in love with her squad leader Four (Theo James). Together they uncover a plot to eradicate all Divergents, mind control the citizens and overthrow the government.
All of this raises more questions than it answers. Context that might explain why society is the way it is, what threats exist on the other side of that wall or why anyone believes a society built on these rules is a safer one, might lend some credibility to the factions being something other than a very broad metaphor for individuality (or a teaser for a sequel). In the most basic terms, the premise is really no different from most YA novels, Harry Potter’s Sorting Hat or even the recent “Lego Movie.”
But the screenplay does that perception no favors. Characters are constantly talking in adjectives rather than demonstrating how they actually embody the traits they claim to have. “Candors always just say the first thing that pops into their heads,” one new initiate says about a fellow faction. And Tris’s Divergent qualities don’t really differentiate her in terms of character. They mostly help her avoid plot pitfalls her peers fall into.
Woodley thankfully helps make Tris a little more convincing. She sells some of the more melodramatic dialogue and grows into the action hero role along with her character. She also leads a nice moment atop Navy Pier’s Ferris Wheel, one of “Divergent’s” few moments free of plot heavy exposition.
All of the frustrating plot holes and eye-rolling analogies might be filled if only Burger had a voice behind the camera. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” thrived on its scrappy cinematography and dark, surreal edges. I’d like to think that a movie can be more than one thing, but “Divergent” is nothing more than a novel’s fan service.
2 ½ stars
The only aspect of this movie really keeping it together was Woodley and James’ steamy, yet believable chemistry. Everything else, however, feels too conventional and familiar for its own good. Good review Brian.