Insurgent - Movie Review

Insurgent

Director: Robert Schwentke

Written By: Brian Duffield, Akiva Goldsman, Mark Bomback (screenplay), (based off the novel by) Veronica Roth

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Theo James

Released: March 20, 2015

119 minutes

Produced By: Neil Burger, Lucy Fisher, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Pouya Shahbazian, Barry H. Waldman, Douglas Wick, and John Wildermuth

I have to say up front that it's been since 2012 that I read Insurgent, and I've only read it one time. Insurgent was such an emotionally draining book that I haven't quite wanted to re-read it yet. Plus with knowing how things end in Allegiant...yeah. Even though this was a really good series, book-wise, I haven't been driven to re-read the 2nd or 3rd books yet. That being said, the little details aren't going to be things that I remember so much as the main events. So keep that in mind when I'm relating something that happened in the movie to something that happened in the book.

Even though I don't remember the little details, there were obviously some fairly major changes made from the book to the movie. There always are. I didn't get bogged down with those too much. I think for the most part, the major events were mostly intact, and if not really intact as far as events go, then usually the emotion behind the events remained. I will say...It was obvious that Tris was really struggling with the deaths of her parents as well as her own hand in Will's death. Shailene Woodley did a wonderful job in the Candor truth syrum scene. But, I still felt like Tris from the movie came off as very strong--even though suffering. That was just not my experience with reading the book. I zeroed in on the way Tris felt in the book. She felt guilt, yes. She didn't feel like she could forgive herself, yes. But it went further than that. When she hands herself over to Jeanine in the book, Tris is doing that more out of self-sabotage or self-punishment than any self-righteous or self-sacrificing reasons. And that is key to the contrast between the events that take place in Allegiant. I didn't feel like the movie did that exactly right.

The actors did a wonderful job. I mentioned Shailene Woodley's portrayal of the truth syrum scene. She's quickly becoming a favorite actress of mine because she really makes me feel what the character is feeling. Theo James did a wonderful job playing Four. He's so tough. Easily believable that he has only 4 fears. And his chemistry with Shailene seems genuine. Ansel Elgort...well that's like a whole different ballgame. I mean in the last movie I saw him in (The Fault in Our Stars), he's playing opposite Shailene Woodley as Augustus Waters--a most beloved character. And so for him to step into the role of Caleb took some adjusting. Yes, he'd played Caleb in Divergent, but he didn't have a huge role, and that was before being Augustus. At one point during Insurgent when Caleb, Tris, and Four are running to jump onto a train and Caleb is struggling to run fast enough, Husband leans over and whispers "He has cancer!!!" I couldn't help but crack up. Seriously though, Ansel does a good job transitioning to Caleb because you can see his cowardice, and you can see at times his struggle with Tris being his sister versus not actually being on Tris's side. I thought that was well played.

Other than the emotional rollercoaster Tris goes through not being quite as brutal as the book, the other there was really only one other moment that caused me to overthink a bit. I don't remember it happening in the book, but I couldn't say for certain that it didn't. And I don't want to really say what it was for spoilers sake--both movie and for Allegiant.

All in all, I thought this was a really solid movie. I really enjoyed it. I love the casting. Visual effects were really good. And even when events from book to movie were different, for the most part the emotion behind the events stayed consistent. I'm giving Insurgent 4 Stars. Have you seen Insurgent? What did you think? Let me know!

Divergent - Movie Review

Divergent

Director: Neil Burger

Written By: Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor (screenplay), Veronica Roth (based on the novel by)

Stars: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet

Released: March 21, 2014

139 minutes

Produced By: Summit Entertainment (presents) (A Neil Burger Film), Red Wagon Entertainment

*Spoilers for people who haven't read the books.*

You guys...Divergent has easily been the best book to movie adaptation that I've seen in a really, really long time. Let me just put that out there immediately.

The actors: Shailene Woodley (Tris), Theo James (Four), Kate Winslet (Jeanine), Ashley Judd (Natalie, aka Tris's mom), Jai Courtney (Eric), Zoe Kravitz (Christina), Maggie Q (Tori), and Tony Goldwyn (Andrew, aka Tris's dad) all did magnificent jobs. I felt like Shailene and Theo especially were perfect for these roles. They were both how I pictured Tris and Four while I was reading Divergent, and they never once acted out of character. Truthfully, that's hard to find. I loved the chemistry that Shailene and Theo had while Theo also maintained Four's standoffish feel through the beginning of the movie. Their relationship felt legit. Shailene's best acting scene was when Tris lost her mother during the Dauntless attack on Abnegation. I teared up during that scene because her grief felt so real. You guys know I'm not a crier, so that's a small victory in and of itself.

As always there are differences between any book and movie made based upon a book. The biggest differences that I noticed involved the widespread knowledge that Divergents exist at all. In the book, the only people who seem to know about Divergents are those who are Divergent themselves, ones who have family members who are (or were) Divergents, and Jeanine. It was slightly confusing to me as a viewer why Tris didn't know any details about what being Divergent meant when the knowledge that Divergents exist at all was fairly widespread. I feel like the moviemakers made this decision in order to help along the viewers who may not have read the books.

I was almost sad to see how little screen time Al was given. I don't know that we'd even been told his name when the major events involving him took place. I figure his scenes were probably cut for budget and timing purposes, but I was sad that we didn't see more of him and his struggle to become Dauntless. Four tells us that he was failing, but even if they'd simply told us his name and flashed to his ranking on the scoreboard we could have figured that out. Similarly, Molly is shown and there are a couple of scenes with her, but I don't think we were ever told her name in the movie.

Probably for me, the most deviations revolve around Jeanine. She was a lot more present than I remember her being in Divergent, but I'm assuming that's because you don't hire an actress like Kate Winslet and not give her any screen time. PLUS I imagine the bigger reason being that because Jeanine's so present in Insurgent, she needed to be firmly established as "public enemy number 1."

Another addition the moviemakers made but that I actually think made more sense involved the mirrors in Tris's simulations. It seemed to me like Tris being able to look at her own reflection for any length of time is what usually woke her up to the fact that the simulations weren't real. And I liked how the moviemakers pulled that in from the first scene of the book and made Tris's relationship with her own reflection have a deeper meaning and purpose.

However many deviations there were between the book and this movie, I wasn't upset with any of them. Everything felt so much better with Divergent than with the other book to movie adaptations I've seen recently. The actors. The locations. The special effects. The smart decisions on what should be changed and what should remain the same. The marketing strategy. The overall feel of the movie. They just did so much right with this adaptation, and I can't thank the director and producers enough for doing a worthy job of this book.

I wanted to spend some time addressing other specific scenes that I enjoyed so much, but when I started naming them in my head I felt like I was essentially naming all the scenes. HA! This is definitely one that I'll pay to see in the theater twice, and I can't wait to see them make Insurgent since there's not a doubt in my mind that they will. Divergent gets 4.5 Stars from me. Have you seen it? What did you think? Let me know!

P.S. I've reviewed Divergent twice on my blog. Here is my original review and here is my 2nd review.