Movie of the Week: Insurgent

[jacey]

I continue to be impressed by the Divergent/Insurgent franchise.  Presumably this is the middle film of three (though since trilogies seem to be expanding into four movies these days, maybe all bets are off on that one, especially since there's already a collection of short stories focusing on hero of the piece, Four.). I think Insurgent holds up pretty well as a second movie. There are bound to be parallels drawn with Hunger Games and for my money this is better.

With Hunger Games I read the books first and then saw the movies. This time I'm doing it the other way round. I read Veronica Roth's Divergent after seeing the first movie and was struck by the adherence to book-plot. I can't say whether that's the case this time because I haven't read the book yet.

Shailene Woodley and Theo James are an attractive pair of leads with good on-screen chemistry. The story takes up just a few days after the close of Divergent with Tris and Four and the escapees taking refuge in Amity - the agricultural area outside the city proper (but still inside the fence). The plot centres of Janine (the antagonist) trying to open a message from the past and finding she needs a divergent to do it - and not just any Divergent either, it has to be Tris.

No more plot spoilers. Well worth seeing if you saw the first one. I'm not suire whether it's a good entry point if you didn't. My recommendation is to get the DVD of Divergent before seeing this.