Book to Movie Review: Insurgent

Insurgent
Book by Veronica Roth
Directed by Robert Schwentke
Dystopia

Beatrice Prior must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart with the help from others on her side.

You can read my review of Divergent (movie) here.

Well. The trailers for this movie were pretty stupid in my opinion. I remember seeing lots of action and CGI, and overall being like whaaaaaat. 

And it turns out that feeling was pretty accurate regarding the entire film.

I did NOT come with expectations- one reason being the weird trailers, another being that I never was that invested in the trilogy originally, and lastly because I more or less forgot what happened in the books. 

All these would have served me well if the movie had been a bad adaptation, but enjoyable on its own. However, it was truly bizarre even just as a film. At any given moment something that did not make sense was happening. ENTIRE ILLOGICAL ELEMENTS WERE ADDED- just HOW exactly is a device supposed to say what faction you're in or how divergent you are?? WHY would Four wait until the factionless nearly killed them three times over to play his my-mommy-is-your-boss card? And there is NO WAY Four could have really made that jump in front of the train and survived. The plot stayed nonsensical all throughout. 

Cinematically, it was not a smooth watch. So many pieces were dream scenes or simulations that I was always second-guessing whether what I was watching actually happened. Also, I can't believe I'm saying this but... it was too dramatic. All the flying-burning-building shtick really took away from the characters and their stories- and they are not lacking. I think the movie would have been better had they given more time to Four's relationship with his parents, Caleb's betrayal, Christina forgiving Tris... I could go on. Potentially, Insurgent could have really tugged on the heartstrings. 

The good thing that I will say is that the actors shone more (than in the first). Miles Teller stole every bit he was in. Ansel Elgort was FUNNY (granted, that might be more due to bad acting than good... of maybe he will just always be Ansel in my mind) Shailene was amazing as usual. The biggest difference goes to Theo- I liked his character so much more in Insurgent. In Divergent, he was just a pretty face (and back). Now I felt and saw all his feelings more, and it was a real pleasure to watch him act and relate. 

Rating: 3.5 stars

Love, 
Esty