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Divergent Left Me Hungry To Read The Book Again

3 · 21 · 14

Divergent-1

Warning: Spoiler Heavy

Before  I went to the movies I stopped off and picked up some crackers, the kind with peanut butter and the other kind with sour cream. They made for a great snack while watching Divergent today (don’t judge me, you’ve done it too), but just like the crackers were not a full meal, or even a filling bag of popcorn, Divergent was not  a complete movie.

I know you cannot put everything from Divergent, the book, into Divergent the movie, but I felt like I was watching the cliff notes version of the book. There was enough to write a report about it but not enough to make me feel anything, at least the way the book did. Now, you can say. “What does a 46yr old guy care about Divergent. Creepy.” Well, I don’t care about the movie per se’, like a 15 (or 26) year old girl would, but I like to get my money’s worth. I felt like I got half a movie. Who pays for that? Do you pay for half an ice cream cone? Half a steak? No, you want the whole thing,. Knowing ahead a time I was not going to get the whole thing, I was at least hoping it would fill me up until the next one much like the Hunger Games did. That movie at least took the time to make me care, help me become emotionally invested, not so with Divergent. There just wasn’t enough.

Peter wasn’t mean enough to make me care (or Tris for that matter based on the acting) that Tris shot and wounded him. (shower scene anyone?)

Erudites were not menacing enough.

Eric wasn’t malevolent enough to make me care when Tris showed him up or when Four shot him.

Al wasn’t torn and conflicted enough to make be care that he killed himself. (weeping at night would have helped)

Dauntless wasn’t dark enough to be dauntless.

There was not enough, if any, of Will and Christina.

The bonds between the friends weren’t enough to make me root for them.

The bonds between the enemies wasn’t enough to make me root against them.

There was not enough funny.

There was not enough sad (although I give credit for the scene between Tris and her mom), but she got over that real quick like many of her scenes.

There was not enough dark.

There was not enough pain.

They nerfed it. The director, and some of the actors, put foamy bits on the sharp edges of the story to make sure none of us got cut, or felt anything.

The movie felt like everyone, accept for maybe Four who was played pretty well by Theo James, was a cardboard cut out and placed on set to take an acting selfie, as if to to say ” remember this scene from the book?” Good, let’s move on then. The movie felt rushed, like I was trying to catch one of those trains the Dauntless like to catch. I would have rather have seen this movie in two parts, maybe each book in two parts so more nuances could be added to make a complete movie and a worthy, if not entertaining, movie. Instead of meal, they gave me a snack, like I was on a plane and no meal was being served on this flight so they gave me peanuts (or crackers) to tide me over until Mockingjay comes out.

There were some redeeming parts to the movie, Four was Four, it’s how I pictured him. The last 30 minutes of the movie and the fight with Tris, Four, and Jeanine was pretty cool. But to wait two hours for that? I will do a post when  the dvd come out on what parts I think are usable with your youth ministry.

Was the move bad? No, it just wasn’t good enough to be filling.

What are/were your expectations for the movie?  Were you filled up or left hungry?

 

 

 

 

 

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