For moviegoers who enjoyed the world that Suzanne Collins helped create in “The Hunger Games,” “Divergent” will probably be a fun watch.

But it doesn’t live up to its namesake as a film that challenges the norm.

The themes featured in “Divergent” are sappy and unoriginal, as it was apparent that Veronica Roth, who wrote the original book trilogy, was trying to push the message of accepting who you are and not conforming to anyone’s pressures or expectations.

And though these messages might be comforting for the young adult demographic she wrote for, they made for an extremely formulaic and predictable movie plot.

The film, directed by Neil Burger and starring Shailene Woodley, takes place in dystopian Chicago, where society is strictly divided into five categories based on which values each group considers most important.

Woodley, who plays main character Tris Prior, comes from Abnegation, the section that emphasizes selflessness.

The other factions are called Amity, for peacefulness; Candor, for honesty; Dauntless, for bravery; and Erudite, for intelligence.

Tris and her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort), as part of a coming-of-age ritual in this post-apocalyptic world, must choose which faction to join for the rest of their life. Though it is said that the choice is free, it is strongly suggested that young men and women choose their faction based off the results of an aptitude test. The test goes into the mind of each individual, making each face their worst fears in order to show the way they go about solving problems.

Tris is woken up from the test by her test proctor, Tori (Maggie Q), who informs her that she is a Divergent. Divergents are people whose minds work in an extraordinarily unique way, meaning that they will be resistant to conformity. Tori insists that Tris not tell anybody her results, as Divergents are being hunted by the Erudites, who see them as a threat to their overall control.

Tris ends up choosing Dauntless, and, for the majority of the film, is faced with the challenges of completing the rigorous physical training that Dauntless members go through, as well as training her mind to think like something she’s not in order to survive.

The only two actors who got good amounts of screen time were Woodley and Theo James, who played the Dauntless trainer, nicknamed Four. James was solid in his role as the demanding but supportive trainer, originally doubtful but eventually supportive of Tris for her unique mentality.

Woodley, however, was unable to show much variety. Though Tris was appropriately played as a very confident girl, Woodley lacked emotional depth.

One of the good things about the film was its noting of famous Chicagoan landmarks, such as the Sears Tower (now renamed Willis Tower) and Navy Pier, which were revered ancient structures recalling a better time. Using real-life places instead of faraway worlds helped to make the entire concept of the movie’s dystopian setting more believable.

The camerawork was also fitting, as there were a lot of back and forth cuts during fight scenes, but more close-ups during intense dialogue.

Besides those positives, though, “Divergent” fits the mold set by the young-adult-books-turned-film phenomenon that has emerged during the past few years far too perfectly. The similarities between “Divergent” and its 2012 lookalike “The Hunger Games” were seemingly innumerable.

Both movies took place in future societies split into unequal castes in the aftermath of war, featured long physical training scenes, centered on young adults taken away from their families and homes, included a hard-to-please mentor turned friend and seemed to antagonize the entire concept of government as a whole. It felt as though if you had seen one of the movies, you had effectively seen both.

Though the film certainly had some strengths, it struggled underneath a lackluster plotline, poor characterization and reliance on clichés.

All in all, “Divergent” fails to stand out.

Published on April 2, 2014 at 1:30 am