With the whole Young Adult (YA) dystopia trend in full swing now, The Divergent Series : Allegiant is coming hot on the heels of the Hunger Games conclusion. Based on the third book in the Divergent trilogy; this movie has not only been changed from the book but also, as would be expected, been chopped into two parts. However not diluting the whole shebang into parts one and two, the clever boffins at the studio have instead decided to call it the Divergent Series and give part two it's own title too. So for the readers of the book - well they are confused. As for the people who just watch the movies - they think it'll just be like a Twilight style quadrilogy. Thing is... Is it any good?
It's a good sign that all the original cast return to continue on with the franchise. Shailene Woodley reprises her role as Tris, looking as cute as ever. Theo James is the brooding Four, who really doesn't have that much to do this time around except get frustrated and be eye candy for the girls. Some whippersnapper takes over the Eric type role and Miles Teller is back as mouthy Peter. Backing up the rest is Naomi Watts as Fours mom and Tris's brother Caleb who is about as as much of a liability as a 1980's Dr Who assistant. The newcomers include one Jeff Daniels as the solo named David who gets to dress Tris up in white and spend a lot of time talking with her.
Now I must say I'm a massive fan of the books. It's been a long time since it's taken for me to really get emotionally involved with a series of books like this. I love Tris and Four (as characters and as a couple) and I love Veronica Roth's writing (and the books as a whole). The story overall is fantastic and therefore I was excited to be seeing this on the big screen. However; although, now settled into their roles and the actors do a grand job, the film isn't really that good.
I don't know whether this is down to my expectations from the book or what but it seems like there's a lot of talking and a lot of running about. To me, it suffers from that which other "part ones" that have gone before it - in that the source is one book; one story and they want to two part it. But the actual source only probably stretches for about a movie and a half. You want the big reveal in part two so part one has to be stretched out to accommodate movie length. So, like Harry Potter, Twilight and especially Hunger Games, the part one contains much needless filler and waffle to pad it out ready for the next one. Strangely the movie just ends with no sort of pointer to say they will be making another one.
For those that have read the books - you will have seen most of it in this movie but the changes mean that if there was such a sequel coming next year, we won't have a clue what they will be doing unless they pretty much recycle this story (if they are following the book timeline).
Overall the cast do a decent job but this movie just doesn't quite get there. It tries but fails. Probably the worst one so far but here's hoping it picks up in the next, and final, instalment. As a Divergent fan I'm hoping this is the case.
Divergent Series: Allegiant is out now.
POPSCORE: 6/10
