Tris Prior is in a bad way at the beginning of The Divergent Series: Insurgent, the sorry-it’s-just-OK sequel to last spring’s Divergent.
For one, she has a mean case of like, PTSD or som’in’; after all, both her parents bit it at the end of the first movie and she was forced to kill a close friend, in self-defense, if you’ll remember (his mind was under the control of Kate Winslet’s Jeanine, the tyrannical leader of Erudite).
Do not make me explain factions – that you should be/likely are familiar with already if you’re watching Shailene Woodley do her thing as Tris in the post-war Chicago of this future dystopia.
On the lam with her trainer-cum-lover-and-ally, Four (Theo James), her good-for-little older brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort), and a duplicitous fellow Dauntless (Miles Teller), Tris has found temporary refuge within Amity (Octavia Spencer plays their leader), chopped off her hair, and come to realize – thanks, guilt! – that those who get close to her end up getting hurt. More importantly, she has decided that she needs to put a stop to Jeanine by any means necessary.
See, Jeanine has become obsessed with this box that was in the possession of the late papa and mama Prior (Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd). The contents of said box are unknown, but what Jeanine does know for sure is that whatever it is, the Priors felt it was worth dying for – so it must be important. She also knows that the only way to open the mysterious thing is by having a Divergent do the honors.
And whaddya know, Tris will be the only one strong enough for the task.
What ensues is a tug and pull of wills between the two women. Tris surrenders to Jeanine after the latter launches an assault on Divergents that affects her friends and the new alliances she’s begun forging (including Evelyn, the leader of the Factionless and, btw, also Four’s long-lost mother, portrayed by Naomi Watts).
Ultimately, The Divergent Series: Insurgent fails at maintaining the excitement of its predecessor. Because Tris and Four are separated from their faction, and the thrill of her discoveries is gone, this one feels a bit tired, which is not what you want the second installment of the modern-day four-part trilogy to feel like, no, no. Taking over for Neil Burger, Robert Schwentke (RED) acquits himself nicely with the follow-up (the effects are on fleek, as is his still-game cast), but the writing...the story, it all ends up coming across lazily put together.
By the time a character’s hidden agenda comes to light (about 10 seconds before the movie is over), The Divergent Series: Insurgent feels dangerously close to irrelevant, which is not a good thing for next year’s The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Part 1.
