Insurgent

Insurgent, or as I like to call it the second installment in the poor man’s Hunger Games is now in theaters; and if you are looking for a similar plot that will tide you over until the final Hunger Game movie, man is this a mediocre solution. 

One of the strong points of this movie was that it actually started right after the first movie ended. The main gang of characters have escaped and seek refuge within another factions. They are being hunted by the leader played by Kate Winslet. 

This is our premise and it plays pretty straight for the first half of the movie, so much so that the beginning is almost painfully uneventful. Things really don’t pick up until the third act that where the action really picks up, but it’s not original. The action is so similar, in fact that it seems to be reusing scenes from the first movie. This movie then ends in a way that left me with more questions than answers and less motivation to seek those answers out then is necessary for a Wikipedia search.  

The acting in this movie is average at best. It took away a lot of the emotion and all of the faction tensions from the first movie so most of the characters play pretty 2 dimensional. The exception becomes Shaileen Woodley who is great, and becomes the glue that makes this movie watchable.   

I liked the first movie because it set up a very unique world that focused on the politics and family themes in a society where everyone is divided into factions. This movie moves away from that and plays less into how the factions interact and their roles before totally killing that plot device at the end. 

Fans of the books will continue to see these movies but if you like this kind of dystopian future movie with a strong female lead meant to overthrow the government and free the people, may I suggest the Hunger Games. The Divergent series will always be a cheap copy. Poor acting from great actors and a slow plot make me uninterested in future Divergent movies. 

My final ranking for this movie is: Needs a Chaser (See link below) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_sfnQDr1-o