“Divergent”, released exactly a year ago, was based on the first installment of a popular tween/teen book series about a female heroine in a post-apocalyptic world. Similarities were immediately made to “The Hunger Games”, with “Divergent” having copycat concepts and lackluster big screen results in comparison. Interestingly, Lionsgate, which recently bought Summit Entertainment, is now the distributor of both franchises.
The star power for “The Divergent Series: Insurgent” has been ramped-up – with new cast members Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer and Daniel Dae Kim adding a little bite. And, thankfully, it is shorter than its predecessor by 20 minutes. There’s also more energy this time with a few solid action scenes. But, once again, the overall pacing is very slow, and so the mediocre story is so stretched-out simply to fill time.
Kate Winslet is back as the evil Jeanine. She talks often in “Insurgent” about how coincidental and ironic it is that Tris (Shailene Woodley) is, once again, the main Divergent making her life miserable. Of course she is – she’s the main character in the story! And there’s plenty of hoopla involving the five Factions, the up-and-down romance of Tris and Four (who reveals that his name isn’t really a number – which hilariously comes as a big shock to Tris), and the subplots with Tris’ shy brother Caleb (played by Ansel Elgort, who Woodley fell in love with in “The Fault in Our Stars”) and the good guy who may have become a bad guy, Peter (played by Miles Teller, who Woodley fell in love with in “The Spectacular Now”).
The main storyline in “Insurgent” is that Jeanine needs Tris to open a box for her that contains an important message about the collapsing Faction system. But – another shocker – the box contains a “surprise” – except it’s really no surprise as everyone knows how this is going to end (it’s a sci-fi/futuristic version of a prequel to “Pandora’s Box”).
What is surprising is that “Insurgent” plays-out like a series ender. But unfortunately…it’s not. There are two more films: Parts 1 and 2 of “Allegiant” are set for March releases over the next two years.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “The Divergent Series: Insurgent” gets a C-. And that may be a little “Indulgent”.
Running Time: 119 min.