Review: INSURGENT

THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT  (ACTION-THRILLER/SCI-FI)
2 out of 4 stars 
Directed by Robert Schwentke
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Jai Courtney, Octavia Spencer, Maggie Q, Zoe Kravitz, Ray Stevenson, Daniel Dae Kim
Rated PG-13 for intense violence and action throughout, some sensuality, thematic elements and brief language.
119 minutes
Verdict: INSURGENT has a very talented cast who give some strong performances, but the story is so aimless and the characterizations so clumsy and unoriginal, that it's hard to take seriously, while playing it too safe to be an entertaining or interesting failure.
YOU MAY ENJOY THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT IF YOU LIKED:
DIVERGENT  (2014)
THE MAZE RUNNER  (2014)
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS  (2014)
THE HUNGER GAMES  (2012)
RED  (2010)

INSURGENT has Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet, Miles Teller and Naomi Watts; all very talented actors, all apparently trying hard to make this movie work, but everything that INSURGENT wants to say is so ironic in the light of everything that it actually does, made only more ironic by an actual musing about 'irony' in the film's dialogue.  The first film in the series, DIVERGENT, released only a year ago, wasn't exactly the huge hit that immediately demands a sequel, and a substantially more expensive one at that, but it stuck better than most of the YA literature adaptations that Hollywood has been throwing at the screen like mad lately.  DIVERGENT was half-baked, but whatever interest it may have built up it well gone by the time INSURGENT has had its say.
Shailene Woodley, the lovely and talented star of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and THE SPECTACULAR NOW, returns slightly miscast in the role of Beatrice "Tris" Prior, a fugitive "Divergent" in a dystopian future where society is sectored off into five factions based on each individual's domineering personality trait; Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite; but Divergents, who do not fit into a sole faction, are considered dangerous undesirables.  With her hunky formerly-of-Dauntless boyfriend Tobias "Four" Eaton (Theo James), Tris is on the run from Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet), the leader of the Erudite faction, who believes Erudite should govern all the factions and wants to wipe out Divergents.  However, now, Jeanine finds that she needs a Divergent in order to unlock a box holding a secret message from their society's founders, which she believes will confirm her ideals.  While evading Jeanine's forces, Tris and Four are reunited with Four's estranged mother, Evelyn (Naomi Watts), who intends to lead the outcast Factionless in a revolt against Jeanine and her ilk.

Kate Winslet and Ansel Elgort in THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT

 INSURGENT might be convoluted if any of the plot threads went anywhere, or even expressed the intention of going anywhere.  There's a lot of wandering and encounters, stopping by different factions where Tris and Four are either interrogated or attacked, but for all its talk, there are no insurgencies, little is done, and by the end, it feels like everything has been resolved anyway.  There are, however, quite a few "Wait...what...why?" moments throughout
It's a shame, because Woodley is very good, even in a role that doesn't quite suit her strengths, and isn't well written besides.  Tris is a mismatched grab-bag of young adult hero cliches, plagued by nightmares, guilt, self-reluctance, angry outbursts, hormones and so on, and Woodley best gets to display her talents in emotional moments, but she's lacking the edge to convince in Tris' highly manufactured "bad-ass" moments.  Tris is rarely an interesting or particularly likable character, and her co-lead, James, while not necessarily bad, is so minimally written that he never gets the chance to show if can act.  As Four, he pouts his way through the movie, and granted, he's a handsome fella, but that often feels like the primary purpose of his role.  Miles Teller, who previously co-starred with Woodley in THE SPECTACULAR NOW, plays the somewhat antagonistic Peter, a character who Teller manages to make at least marginally interesting, while Winslet comes out the cleanest with the only character that has a clear motivation, that literally being to open a box.
Given that INSURGENT has both director Robert Schwentke's (director of the 2013 bomb R.I.P.D.) and co-writer Akiva Goldsman's (writer of the 2014 bomb A WINTER'S TALE) names on it but doesn't crash and burn spectacularly has got to count for something, but a crash and burn might have been more interesting than what we've wound up with.  The Divergent Series has one crucial obstacle to overcome, and that is proving that it is more than a retread of The Hunger Games series, but so far the most that it's done in that respect is to prove how superior The Hunger Games is in comparison.

Theo James and Shailene Woodley in THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT