Divergent (MOVIE) directed by Neil Burger

Movie Poster. 2014.

DIVERGENT
Directed by Neil Burger
Notable Actors: Shailene Woodley as Tris Prior, Theo James as Four, Zoe Kravitz as Christina, Ansel Elgort as Caleb, Maggie Q as Tori, and Kate Winslet as Jeanine Matthews.

Rating: 8 out 10.

SPOILERS.
Beatrice Prior lives in a world divided by five personality traits. You are born into a faction, but most choose one after you take your decision test. Are you Erudite, those who value intelligence? Amity values kindness, Candor is all about honesty, Dauntless is those who are courageous and brave, and then there is Abnegation, those who are selfless. Beatrice was born into Abnegation, but it comes the time where she and her brother Caleb are to choose their faction, after all, its faction over family. As she goes to take her test, her proctor is a Dauntless woman named Tori. Beatrice scores as Abnegation.....and Erudite, and Dauntless. She's what they call 'Divergent' and is very dangerous. Divergent people are often killed, or left to become Factionless....a peasant amongst the factions. Beatrice goes home to think about it, and her brother tells her to make herself happy. The choosing ceremony comes, and Beatrice drops her blood into the fire of Dauntless. The jumping on trains and training are difficult, including physical fighting, weapons, and facing your fears in a dream hallucination. When entering the Dauntless compound, she is met by Four. He asks her name and says she can choose a new one if she wants. She becomes Tris. Tris is at the bottom of the initiate rankings when she first gets there and is in jeopardy of becoming factionless. She trains with her mentor, Four, to become better. She starts rising up slowly, until she gets to the fear challenge. Her Divergent path makes her conquer her dream landscapes much quicker than everyone else. Four brings her into his fear landscape and she discovers why he's called Four, he has four fears, while most people have ten to fifteen. He shows her that she's been solving her fear landscapes wrong, like a Divergent instead of a Dauntless person. As she goes through the final test, she's accepted into Dauntless.

Four and Tris. 2014.

    Everyone is then given a "tracker" because of Dauntless being military. Really, the Erudite are putting mind control into them and those who are Divergent will stick out because they will not be controlled. The Dauntless are ordered to kill the Abnegation faction, due to the fact that Abnegation is public servants so they are left to run the government. The Erudite think their intelligence is better suited and want Abnegation out of the way. We learn when the Abnegation group is being attacked, that Tris's mother was originally Dauntless, but switched to the peaceful Abnegation life. In the book, her grandmother warned her mother that it was dangerous and to find peace somewhere else. Tris's mother dies saving her and she and Four are united with their parents. Turns out, Marcus (aka political leader in Abnegation and for everyone) was Four's father. He abused him, causing Four (whose real name is Tobias Eaton) to leave and go to Dauntless so he could one day face his father. Tris and Four leave the city on a train, headed for Amity.

An episode of Punk'd.

The recent trends in YA Dystopian Novels being adapted to the screen has left a sour taste in my mouth recently. From The Host to Hunger Games, a lot of them have fallen from the original novel in which they were adapted. I read Divergent by Veronica Roth, but honestly, like I said it earlier, I was starting to become skeptical. Wow, I was shocked though. Seriously, maybe I've been choosing good movies lately to review or whatever, but this one was up. I am a fan of this movie hardcore. After seeing Shailene Woodley play Tris, I was convinced that they really couldn't have casted anyone better. I mean, maybe Secret Life of the American Teenager was just the worst mistake ever for her, because she's actually a pretty darn good actress. Theo James was the epitome of Four too. The director of photography really knew what he/she was doing, because each shot is literally just genius. The special effects weren't over the top, and it looked highly believable. It was crazy how I was all about this. This whole movie also followed the book pretty freaking well. Like...super well. I don't even. Really. I can't even finish that sentence cause I don't even know what to say.

Watch this movie. No plug. Just watch.