Review: DIVERGENT

DIVERGENT  (ACTION/SCI-FI-THRILLER)
2 out of 4 stars
Directed by Neil Burger
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Zoe Kravitz, Miles Teller, Jai Courtney, Kate Winslet, Tony Goldwyn, Ashley Judd, Maggie Q, Ansel Elgort
PG-13 for intense violence and action, thematic elements and some sensuality.
Verdict: Led by another winning performance by the hugely appealing up-and-comer Shailene Woodley and stylish direction by LIMITLESS director Neil Burger, DIVERGENT has a good run, but at a nearly two-and-a-half running time the film starts to fracture before the action and cheesy one liner-packed final act is underway.  For a film that's two-parts an overly elaborate science fiction interpretation of summer camp basics and one-part a generic young adult action-thriller though, it's not so bad.
YOU MAY ENJOY DIVERGENT IF YOU LIKED:
THE HUNGER GAMES (2012)
THE HOST (2013)
THE SPECTACULAR NOW (2013)
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER  (2012)
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN  (2012)

Shailene Woodley is rapidly becoming one of the most likable young actresses in film these days (not that Miss Lawrence has any cause to worry), and without her, the newest young adult literature adapted to film, DIVERGENT, would be at a loss.  I assume fans of the book will love the movie for what it is, although I haven't read the book myself.  For those who aren't so familiar with the source material, it comes off as a bit complicated at first, demanding some extra attention for the opening scenes' exposition, but it soon becomes simple afterwards.
Set in a post-WWIII world, where the remnants of Chicago, Illinois are (presumably) the last remaining region suitable for human habitation and have been walled off from the rest of the world, the population is sectored off into five faction based on personality traits in order to maximize social efficiency and minimize conflict.  The factions are: Amity, for the peaceful (they're kind of like hippies), Candor, for the honest (ironically though, they're basically the lawyers), Erudite, for the intelligent (you know, scientists), Dauntless, for the brave (the security and militant faction) and Abnegation, for the selfless (like missionaries without the proselytizing).  Beatrice Prior (Woodley) was born into Abnegation, but never quite fit in, and when she reaches the age of 16, like all her peers, she is required to take the aptitude test that will determine what faction they are best fitted to.  While the test assesses the best faction for each person, each person still can choose whichever faction they want, but once they've chosen, they can never go back, and if their assimilation fails, they risk the worst fate imaginable as one of the "factionless".  When Beatrice takes the test though, her results come back as a rare "divergent", assigning her to multiple factions and threatening the faction system altogether.  So she keeps her results a secret but opts to enter Dauntless, where she changes her name to "Tris" and a rigorous and sometimes deadly training regime awaits, while the faction leader of Arudite, Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet), is intending to manipulate Dauntless remove the overall governing faction of Abnegation to make way for an Arudite government and eliminate all who threaten the sanctity of the faction system, especially the divergents.
Don't worry, it's not as complicated as it sounds.  In fact, the film's most prominent shortcoming is that the script is too often formulaic and predictable, following the tropes of previous young adult science fiction stories (in a lot of ways, it reminded me of ENDER'S GAME).  The dialogue isn't always up to scratch either, especially in the climactic action scene where cheesy one-liners abound.
Director Neil Burger, who directed the excellent 2011 thriller LIMITLESS, brings a welcome stylish approach and the production is certainly helped by a vote of confidence from Lionsgate in the form of an $80 million budget, doubled from the initially approved $40 million.  The amber-lit dystopian scenery and flashy cinematography are more engaging than the story.  The DIVERGENT world is amusingly like a summer camp on steroids, where everyone gets divided up into distinctive groups and play capture the flag (they actually play a particularly violent variation on capture the flag).
The cast is led by Woodley, an up-and-coming actress with "girl-next-door" good looks, who shows a grittier side than we've seen in her big screen debut, THE DESCENDANTS, and last year's exceptional teen romance, THE SPECTACULAR NOW.  Her THE SPECTACULAR NOW co-star Miles Teller appears in DIVERGENT as the antagonistic Peter Hayes, and in one particular scene, we get to see one of last year's sweetest screen couples duke it out in a brutal mixed martial arts fight, so that's interesting.  The role of Jeanine is uncharacteristic for Winslet, not least of which is because she doesn't do a nude scene, but her cold, calculating villain doesn't get a whole lot to do, despite her casting.  Theo James' romantic interest Four is also a fairly dull major role, but he's suitably hunky to satisfy the young female audience, and he does a lot of eyebrow furrowing.
DIVERGENT is a pleasant-enough mixed bag, never really distinguishing itself and perhaps a little lengthy, but very watchable nonetheless.

Theo James as "Four" and Shailene Woodley as "Tris".