Another Film Snob post: Are you a Divergent?

On 03/03/2015 at 11:02 PM by asrealasitgets

Since Feb was kind of a dry spell for games, for me anyhow, I've been watching more films than gaming or reading. As for games, I finished up Metroid Prime and started playing more Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on WiiU.

For some reason Divergent never really caught my attention when it released. All I remember about it was that it was a cheap looking knock-off of Hunger Games, but after watching I have to say that although they share similarites, I think Divergent sets itself apart enough for me to have enjoyed the movie on its own merits.

The main reason being that there are trippy hallucination sequences that I quite enjoyed and overall the film reminded me of a trippy live action Anime.

The film takes place in some distopian future Chicago where the world is divided between 5 factions and the film starts off with the main character going through some ceremony to choose one of them (think sorting hat from harry potter), or else she has to exile herself and stay homeless forever.

She chooses the more military/marine faction called "Dauntless Faction" because she's tired of being the good littlegirl or something and wants to defend/protect people or whatever.

The rest of the movie is about her going through a rite of passage in the marines like G.I. Jane or Katniss in the Hunger Games, which includes combat training and war games and they also go through some virtual reality simulation like the Matrix which is pretty trippy.

Then some shit goes down where a war breaks out between factions and shit gets real!

Overall, the film has a very low budget quality compared to Hunger Games, but it's pretty entertaining if you like Young Adult book distopia themes. I cared enough to want to see the next film and I'm curious about the novels now.

Mocking Jay Part 1 was really good, and Divergent can't really hold up to it, but it's not bad at all.

Did you see Divergent? What about the books?

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/03/2015 at 11:05 PM

I own the book, but have yet to read it. Like you, I thought it looked like a cheap HG knockoff, so I haven't seen the movie, but have read all the HG books and seen the movies. I'm hoping to give this series a fair shake for at least the first entry though.

asrealasitgets

03/03/2015 at 11:11 PM

Well I honestly felt like Divergent was much darker than Hunger Games as weird as that sounds. It's probably because it's like a bootcamp film so you have to watch the recruits get bullied and sometimes you feel bad for them. Their parents can't take them back so there is just anxiety everywhere. It has more of a 'trying to fit in' kind of theme as opposed to take the government down theme from Hunger Games, but it looks like this is where the Divergent sequel is heading from the trailers.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/04/2015 at 12:25 AM

I'm Snee-vergent.

haven't seen it, not really my type of film. I didn't like Hunger Games either, give me Running Man any day of the week.

03/04/2015 at 01:07 AM

A true film snob! I don't think these films were meant to be true classics or anything. More or less cash grabs from a popular book series, but I do love distopias nonetheless, so I'll take it in any form. You didn't like Hunger Games? OMG what a film snob LOL!

03/04/2015 at 01:10 AM

Now Running Man, that's a classic, timeless feature!

I am a bit of a film snob, I admit. You should watch the original Rollerball though, that's a good dystopian sci fi film, and one of my favorites.

Cary Woodham

03/04/2015 at 06:03 AM

I've never seen Divergent or Hungry Games.

Ranger1

03/04/2015 at 09:37 AM

Read the book. It's much, much better than the movie. My niece gave me the book for Christmas in 2013, and then I saw the movie when it came out last year. If it hadn't been free movie day at the theater that day, I would have felt ripped off. Maybe if I hadn't read the book first, I might have liked it more.

03/04/2015 at 05:30 PM

I enjoyed the movie enough, maybe I should look into the books.

mothman

03/04/2015 at 10:30 AM

I started playing MH 3 Ultimate again after I bought the New 3DS XL only to find out that I can't use the C Stick to move the camera. Very disappointing.

I saw the first Hunger Games a while back and enjoyed it and Iive heard of Divergent but never read any of the books. I think I was put off by the "young adult" pidgeonholing of them which I know is wrong.

goaztecs

03/04/2015 at 11:05 AM

I was told to check out the books after reading through the Hunger Games trilogy but I never picked them up. As for the flick, I like Shailene Woodley but I never got more than halfway through the movie. I really should check out the books because the plot is interesting.

03/04/2015 at 05:31 PM

The second half is the best part. Go back and watch it.

jgusw

03/06/2015 at 09:01 AM

I wife read the books. I didn't know anything about the movie until we went to a theater and saw it. I thought it good. I actually like it more than The Hungry Games. I can't stand Katniss.

PixlBit