Insurgent (2015)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 119 minutes
Directed by: Robert Schwentke
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Octavia Spencer, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Kate Winslet, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Naomi Watts
KRS Releasing Ltd
Insurgent, the second film in the Divergent saga, continues where the first film left off.
In the war-torn future, Chicago has changed completely. It has become a veritable fortress and the population is now divided into groups: the Dauntless (the protestors), the Amity (the peaceful), the Abnegation (the selfless), the Factionless (those who do not fit in) and the Erudite (the intelligent). Now along come the divergents who do not fit cosily in any of the above factions.
Teenager Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior (Shailene Woodley) has suffered quite enough, as her parents – who belonged to Abnegation – were killed by Jeanine (Kate Winslet), who commands the Erudites. Tris is not alone as her lover and trainer Tobias ‘Four’ Eaton (Theo James) is in hiding with her.
In this same group one finds Johanna (Octavia Spencer), who leads the group; Tris’s brother, Caleb (Ansel Elgort); and Peter (Miles Teller), who was trained alongside Tris and Four.
In order to bring peace, Tris knows that Jeanine needs to be stopped. She finds the support of Evelyn (Naomi Watts), Four’s mother.
Jeanine has her own plans as she has brought around her a group of divergents in order to try and open a box that has been left by the mythical founders.
Eric (Jai Courtney), a Dauntless leader, and his band are trying to find the necessary divergents. By leading various people to their suicides, they force Tris to come out of hiding and try to solve the mystery box puzzle which in itself can be very dangerous to her and those around her.
The film is even flashier than the first movie
The second movie in the Divergent series manages to up the ante and improve on the first film. This adaptation of the bestselling trilogy by Veronica Routh comes along with improved style and action and Woodley is now more imposing in her screen performance.
As is the norm for the adaptation of book series, the final book Allegiant will be made into two movies, with Part 1 and Part 2 slated to be released in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Once there is acceptance of the basic premise – that in the future, society will be rigidly structured with humans divided according to their characters – then the Divergent series will manage to lure in the young adult audience at whom it is aimed.
These dystopian-future movies all depend on acceptance of such premises − such as in The Hunger Games − and if this is not owned by the audience, the film will turn out to be a hollow process.
Insurgent brings dollops of eye candy and drama as the audience is caught in the struggle between the characters of Woodley and Winslet, who is here cold and calculating to an extreme.
The film is directed by German director Robert Schwentke who has directed other action and genre pictures like Flightplan (2005), Red (2010) and R.I.P.D. (2013). Here he brings together over-the-top action, apocalyptic special effects and a soul-searching future which makes for quite a ruthless and well-paced film.
Insurgent is even flashier than the first movie. Amid all the special effects,however, Schwentke still leaves space and focus for Woodley to emerge as a good role model for the young audience of the film, as well as bring forward themes about self-confidence and other positive notes.