Insurgent, the second installment made after Veronica Roth’s “Divergent Trilogy”, is not worse than the first, Divergent itself. Despite what other critics say, I liked it as well. I remember giving Divergent a 9 out of ten on imdb, which was a great rating. I wouldn’t do the same with their rival franchises, “The Hunger Games Trilogy” or “The Maze Runner Pentalogy”. With all the glam they have being very trendy post apocalyptic dystopia bloody “game shows”, I like this one better. Based on what I heard about The Maze Runner, I’m not sure I’ll have the patience to watch the first of them till the end.
I have to confess that I didn’t read the books yet, I’d rather read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago” than these modern young adults, but one never knows.
Insurgent – Plot
A short reminder: The Earth’s survivors live in former city of Chicago, surrounded by closely guarded walls in an illogical high-tech and primitive mixed system. They are organized in five factions: Amity, Candor, Dauntless, Erudite, and Abnegation. They don’t mix, they don’t communicate, they almost despise each others. At the age of 16, the youngsters are tested and after that they still can choose a faction to live and obey with its rules, even if they weren’t born in there initially. The risk is that if they don’t fit, they will be eliminated and forced to live with the Factionless, a sixth division of this dystopian society, the pariah fed with selflessness by Abnegation. Government, or the Ruling Council, was chosen from Abnegation’s members. Marcus Eaton was the chief, and also Tris’ parents, Andrew and Natalie, were some hot-shots. Tris found out that Four was in reality Tobias Eaton, Marcus’ abused son.
Insurgent – Shailene Woodley with Theo James
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I’m sorry that maybe I shall not respect my spoiler free policy in this review, but Insurgent is not quite a major movie I recommend you to do anything you can to watch asap. No way. You remember from Divergent, that Erudite overthrow Abnegation. Janine, the Erudite malicious leader framed Abnegation just to take the power for her faction, and worked closely with the Dauntless for that. But the real scope was to put her hands on a sort of magic golden box kept hidden by Natalie. The box could be unlocked only by a Divergent. There was a message from the founders, which Janine was keen to learn.
Insurgent – Kate Winslet
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Tris with her brother, Caleb, together with Four and the duplicitous Peter, found shelter at Amity. Eric, Four’s rival at the Dauntless, at Janine’s order, stormed with his team the Amity quarters to test all members for being Divergent, because only a Divergent could open the magic golden box. The refugees run and hide with the Factionless, who, at their turn, we will come to know that they have their own agenda. They wanted “freedom” and have planned a revolution to take down Janine’s cronies. Their leader was none other than Evelyn Eaton, Four/Tobias Eaton’s deceased mother, who used to be Abnegation before she staged her funerals.
Cast
Shailene Woodley is Tris. Theo James is Four. Kate Winslet is Jeanine. Jai Courtney is Eric, the pierced and fierce Dauntless. Mekhi Phifer is Max, a Dauntless Leader. Ansel Elgort is Caleb, Tris’ unsettled brother. Miles Teller is Peter, a very sneaky and smart fellow. Octavia Spencer is Johanna the Amity leader. Zoë Kravitz is Christina, a Dauntless friend with the four renegades, born Candor. Tony Goldwyn is Andrew Prior, Tris’ father. Ashley Judd is Natalie Prior, Tris’ mother. Ray Stevenson is Marcus Eaton, Four’s father and former Abnegation leader. Titus Pullo is depicted here as a soulless father who abused his son Tobias, who has chosen Dauntless instead of Abnegation when he reached 16.
Insurgent – Poster
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Jonny Weston is Edgar, a pierced Factionless, close to Naomi Watts, who is Evelyn, Four’s mother and the Factionless leader. Emjay Anthony is Hector, who appeared less than a minute, but has his place in this review because I liked him in Jon Favreau’s Chef. Maggie Q is Tori, a Dauntless who tested Tris’ aptitudes in Divergent. It seams that here she supports the rebels. Daniel Dae Kim is Jack Kang, the Candor leader.
Some Details and Trivia
Film’s promotional title is “The Divergent Series: Insurgent”. Divergent‘s director Neil Burger (Limitless, The Lucky Ones, The Illusionist) was changed with Robert Schwenke (RED, R.I.P.D.), screenwriters were changed, Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor were replaced by three of them this time, Brian Duffield, Akiva Goldsman, and Mark Bomback. From an explanatory epic circumstance, this sequel became more “action” oriented. Also, Shailene Woodley is more confident in her acting, probably because of her recently acquired stardom status.
Trailer
Not the best movie I’ve watched, but it was entertaining. The story is a little dumb, but we all hope for the better in the next, don’t we? Another 9, for action, effects and entertainment. Villains are villain and the good is revengeful.
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