Divergent

Based on a Novel by Veronica Roth, Divergent is the latest Teenage Book sensation to be turned into a film. In the post Twilight universe, it bears striking similarities to The Hunger Games, with a strong female lead as the heroine, fighting against governments and oppressors to discover her own identity.

Despite not necessarily being the target market, I enjoyed Divergent immensely. It is set in a world where society is segregated into groups based upon their abilities, when children come of age they must decide which group to join. Beatrice (later know only as Tris) does not conform to one of these groups, and has character traits from several (this is know as divergent) in order for the society to function Divergents are a threat, and are often killed.

Whilst Shailene Woodley is not Jennifer Lawrence, and Tris is not Katniss Everdeen, I found Tris to be a very interesting character, battling with her own sense of identity and belonging, in a world where the head of the intellectuals (Played by Kate Winslett) tells her that Human Nature is a bad thing, and will ruin society.

I was very pleased that Victoria Roth avoids the Cliche love triangle often seen in other films of this genre. Twilight, The Hunger Games and The Mortal Instruments have done it all before and its getting a bit nauseating, so only having the one love interest for our female lead is a refreshing change, and allows more time for plot development, rather than dealing with complex relationships.

The Plot is great, there is clearly a well written book as source material here, and I am looking forward to watching Insurgent and Allegiant in the years to come. 9.5/10