Film Review: Insurgent

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Insurgent. Rated M (science fiction themes and violence). 119 minutes. Directed by Robert Schwentke. Screenplay by Brian Duffield and Mark Bomback. Based on the novel by Veronica Roth.

Verdict: A series of spectacular sequences almost save this long, bloated sequel.

For the plethora of films that focus on young adults fighting to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, the challenge is to create enough points of difference to ensure we remain interested. Like The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014), Insurgent’s padded-out story could have been told in half the time, which is a major disappointment because when Insurgent is good, it is very good.

Picking up where Divergent (2014) left us, Tris (Shailene Woodley), Four (Theo James), Peter (Miles Teller) and Caleb (Ansel Elgort) are on the run from Eric (Jai Courtney) and his gang of mercenaries. Jeanine (Kate Winslet) wants Tris captured and brought to the Erudite faction, where Jeanine is desperate to identify the contents of a mysterious box that she believes will provide her with more power over the population. Only a Divergent can solve the riddle of how the box is opened, and Jeanine is convinced that Tris will be her best chance of success.

Woodley has settled into the role of the reluctant heroine beautifully, and Schwentke is absolutely right to ensure that she is the star attraction as often as possible.

But where Insurgent really works is in the spectacular sequences involving the simulations that Tris is subjected to in order to solve the riddle of the box. Plugged in to an octopus-like cluster of cables, she is plunged into virtual worlds where she must endure life-threatening challenges. While the visual effects and Joseph Trapanese’s score are superb to experience in these sequences, they also serve to reveal just how many moments of genuine intrigue and engagement are completely absent from the rest of the film.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Divergent

Divergent. Rated M (science fiction themes and violence). 139 minutes. Directed by Neil Burger. Screenplay by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor. Based on the novel by Veronica Roth.

Verdict: A new young force to be reckoned with makes her debut.

Like The Hunger Games, Divergent bursts vividly onto the screen with a crystal clear intention: to win the hearts and minds of its devotees who have catapulted 25-year-old Veronica Roth’s award-winning trilogy onto the prestigious New York Times best-selling list. As obvious as the comparisons are (The Hunger Games’ Katniss is closely related to Divergent’s Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior), the success of the novels and their respective cinematic incarnations has created a force to be reckoned with.

At the centre of this compelling genre are determined and independent young women who take extraordinary risks to forge their individuality and purpose in life. In Divergent, a post-apocalyptic world is a divided into factions, in which humans of similar personalities are cloistered away from each other. There are the clever people who populate ‘Erudite’ and the peace-loving hippies of ‘Amity’, but it is the fearless avengers of ‘Dauntless’ who attract the attention of the restless and ambitious Tris (Shailene Woodley). As soon as she has the opportunity to choose her own faction, Tris leaves the respectable family home and begins an adventure that will challenge everything she knows, and thought she knew, about the world in which she exists and her place in it.

Woodley (who was excellent as George Clooney’s eldest daughter in The Descendants) is great as Tris, and manages to beautifully encapsulate the central character’s foibles, strengths and over-riding curiosity about the strange new world she has literally jumped into, feet first. Theo James is perfect as the mysterious ‘Four’, while Jai Courtney (A Good Day to Die Hard) brings Eric, the cruel trainer of the new Dauntless initiates to life equally well.

Burger (Limitless), Daugherty (Snow White and the Huntsman) and Taylor (Game of Thrones) have kicked off this trilogy in energetic form, and even though it eventually limps over the finish line, the promise of all that is to follow in the next two movies (Insurgent and Allegiant) is smartly and tantalisingly defined.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.