Divergent

"You're different. You don't fit into a category. They can't control you. They call it Divergent."

In the future, the city of Chicago is all but destroyed by a war.  The remnant have been divided into factions based on their defining characteristic: Abnegation are selfless, Amnity are peaceful, Candor are truthful, Erudite are intelligent, and Dauntless are brave.  Tris Prior (Woodley) grew up in Abnegation, and is preparing to choose her faction.  Every teen is given a test to help them determine which faction to choose.  Tris' test is inconclusive, which means she is Divergent.  Her test instructor, Tori (Maggie Q), encourages Tris to keep the results to herself and hide that she is Divergent.

Tris chooses to leave behind her family and opts to join Dauntless.  She and other initiates soon learn that they have to compete to stay in the faction.  The lowest scores will become Factionless.  They are trained by Four (James), with interference from brutal Dauntless leader Eric (Courtney).  As tensions mount between the factions, can Tris protect her family and her secret?


A friend from work first introduced me to the world of Divergent.  I devoured the first book and couldn't wait to read more about the characters (and looked forward to reading the other 2 books in the series Insurgent and Allegiant).  I was excited to hear the series was going to adapted to film and eagerly anticipated the film.

The screenplay, by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor, aims to be as faithful to the source material as possible, while still introducing new fans to the series.  The script and casting were lauded by author Veronica Roth.  That said, fans of the books will still notice things that are missing (even though the film runs over 2  hours).

Shailene Woodley shines as Tris.  She is the perfect choice for the character and really grounds the film.  Theo James, best known for smaller roles, is great as Four.  Expect to see him in many more films in the future.  I loved seeing Kate Winslet as the villain and look forward to seeing more of her in the sequel Insurgent, Allegiant Part 1, and Allegiant Part 2).  The rest of the cast hits all the right notes.

Read the book and then head to theaters to see this on the big screen!

Divergent (2014) 139 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for intense violence and action, thematic elements and some sensuality
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Shailene Woodley as Tris Prior
Theo James as Four
Jai Courtney as Eric
Zoe Kravitz as Christina
Miles Teller as Peter
Ansel Elgort as Caleb Prior
Ben Lloyd-Hughes as Will
Christian Madsen as Al
Kate Winslet as Jeanine
Ashley Judd as Natalie Prior
Tony Goldwyn as Andrew Prior