Another best-selling book has been adapted into a block-buster hit. Divergent was recently released to theaters sparking a new fan frenzy. The movie was generally well received and earned $56 million dollars in ticket sales on its opening weekend.
This is Lionsgate’s (the same studio that produced Twilight and The Hunger Games) third young-adult franchise based on books and aimed at females under the age of 25. Although more successful than similar movies like The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Vampire Academy and Beautiful Creatures, the ticket sales fell short of what was anticipated. Despite the disappointment, Lionsgate has already announced a sequel in the works and Divergent topped the box office and fans raved.
In my opinion, the movie was very good with few negatives. The actors did a great job of playing very complex characters and portraying equally complex relationships. There was also a good balance of skill between the relatively inexperienced leads and the seasoned actors in supporting roles.
The cinematography was very excellent. The camera played with different types of shots, angles, and focuses. It was very interesting to see extreme close-ups matched with high shots of the Chicago skyline. However, I feel it had too much shaky cam in some of the intense scenes.
The plot closely followed the book with only a few things omitted to keep the movie length appropriate. As with most book adaptations, not everything was the same but compared to others, Divergent did very well in sticking to the original story. Unfortunately, most of the things omitted were moments that developed relationships between minor characters and as well as between the minor characters and the lead. These were things that I thought greatly enriched the story and was sorry to see that they got cut out.
Also the movie played up the main character’s romance to hilarious extremes. When the two touched, the camera would zoom in on their hands and stay there for what felt like forever. The extra built up emotion was NOT needed, and it took away from the pacing of the story making it seem slow and stuttering.
Despite the drawbacks, because every movie has drawbacks, I still recommend that anyone even remotely interested should see this movie. I am also excited to see what the next movie has in store for its audience.