Courtesy of MTV.com
RATING: C-
Based on the best-selling young adult trilogy by Veronica Roth, “Insurgent” hit the theaters Thursday, March 19. This sequel to last year’s “Divergent” is set in a futuristic Chicago where everyone is divided into five “factions” based on their personality. Main characters Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) are both “divergent,” meaning they fit more than one faction personality, and divergents are being killed off by the emerging tyrant Jeanine (Kate Winslet). However, Roth’s attempt to encourage young women to embrace their uniqueness and be confident in themselves is lost in this crowded, tedious film.
The film opens in a dream sequence where Tris, Four, Peter (Miles Teller) and Caleb (Ansel Elgort) are running for safety from Jeanine, but the irony of Shailene Woodley running with her past three films’ leading men is comical. Tris wakes up from her nightmare and decides that giving herself a haircut will make her feel differently, but it serves as more of distraction for the rest of the film than a statement of independence. Sadly, the haircut was not a dream sequence, too.
Tris and Four’s romance also carries over from the first film despite having weaker on-screen chemistry, and they set out trying to figure out how to stop Jeanine from taking over their fenced-in society.
Director Robert Schwentke replaced director Neil Burger for the more action-packed sequel, but unfortunately, bigger doesn’t mean better for this large step down from its predecessor. Fans of the trilogy will not be happy that the filmmakers decided to change the plot from the book into an even more convoluted and confusing plot than the original.
Jeanine is in search of the most “divergent” of them all because only he or she has the ability to open the box that she somehow knows contains a 200-year-old message from “the founders.” It’s unclear what exactly hearing it will do for her and the plot, but this is only possible if a person can successfully make it through a simulation from all five factions. The box conveniently found at the Priors’ house convinces Jeanine that Tris is the divergent for the job.
She begins sending out threats that people will die every day unless Tris turns herself in. Already tormented by grief over her parents’ deaths, Tris is unable to feel responsible for any more deaths and sneaks off to surrender herself to Jeanine. Before, however, she makes sure to engage in a way too steamy romance scene with Four.
Jeanine immediately puts Tris through these simulations to open the box. In the simulations, the poor quality of the filmmaking and the subpar visual effects shine. From the flying building carrying her mother (Ashley Judd) to seeing Four disintegrate Voldemort style, it’s too painful to recount this weak moment of cinematic history.
Audiences are made to believe Tris died during these simulations, but without any explanation, she resurrects, which means there will either be two more movies to suffer through or more optimistically and doubtfully, redeem the franchise.
As if the screenplay wasn’t crowded enough, Tris and Four are introduced to the factionless and their leader Evelyn (Naomi Watts), who viewers discover is Four’s mom, whom everyone believed dead.
Octavia Spencer and Daniel Dae Kim manage to make small appearances as faction leaders, but it’s Miles Teller who adds the most fun to the film in his portrayal of Peter.
However, even these seasoned actors can’t save the disaster that the rest of the film unfolds into.
