THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT

Part of a trilogy from "The Divergent Series", this second part "Insurgent" starring the same leads Shailene Woodley, Theo James and others such as Jai Courtney, Maggie Q, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet.

The movie continued off from the last movie where Tris, Four, Caleb and Peter escaped from the Erudite faction leader Jeanine's clutches and were hiding in the Amity faction until Eric came along in search of a divergent who could be a perfect match to open up a mystery box, from the city's founders, that contained the symbols of all factions. 

Peter betrayed the others who fortunately managed to kill Eric and sought refuge in the Factionless territory instead. Jai Courtney played the ruthless Eric so convincingly that I would really miss his absence. There, Four was unhappily reunited with his mother Evelyn who was then the leader of the Factionless, and revealed his true name Tobias. Evelyn tried to persuade Tobias to accept her proposal to get both Dauntless and Factionless to combine forces to fight against Erudite.

Eventually, Tris was caught by Jeanine and on her own accord, managed to open up the box to reveal the secret behind the walls. The combined factions also managed to defeat Erudite and Jeanine was taken as prisoner, where she was shot in the head by Evelyn before the movie ended.

I didn't like Shailene and I still don't, but overall I do think this second part is better than the first.

Jeanine and Peter tested many divergents to open up the mystery box

Tris cut her hair

Eric had madness written all over his eyes

Eric confronting leader of the Amity faction

Tobias (Four), Peter and Tris

DIVERGENT

When I watched this movie based on another young adult best selling series, I couldn't help but compared it to "The Hunger Games". Starring Shailene Woodley as Beatrice (otherwise known as Tris), Theo James as Four, Jai Courtney as Eric, Ashley Judd as Tris' mother, Maggie Q as Tori, Kate Winslet as Jeanine etc, this movie was set in a future world where Chicago was what was left after a war. All the surviving members of its society was divided into five factions, based on the character traits that each possesses or their personal choice, to maintain balance and harmony.

All children who reached the age of 16 had to go through a mandatory serum test to determine if their personalities belong to which one of the five factions:

• dauntless e.g. policeman, the brave ones who maintain societal discipline,
• amity e.g. farmer, the peaceful ones who provide for society, 
• candor e.g. lawyer, the truthful ones who uphold law and order,
• erudite e.g. scientist, the intelligent ones who invent stuff or
• abnegation e.g. charity workers, the selfless ones who help others out.

Tris was found to belong to neither but possesses qualities of a few factions and thus belonged to a minority group known as divergent. Jeanine, leader of the erudite, had her own plans to maintain peace, harmony, law and order, and her aim was to eradicate society of all divergents, who threatened the execution of her grand plan, at all costs. Four, the trainer for dauntless, fell in love with Tris and they combined forces to bring down Jeanine.

Many aspects of the movie really reminded me of "The Hunger Games" but I was particularly impressed by the cold and ruthless Eric, played by Jai Courtney whom I remembered from the recent "I, Frankenstein" movie. The movie was good enough for me to watch out for the subsequent parts, that is if they are going to be made.

Four and Tris

Eric and Four

the cold look Eric

Tori running tests on Tris

Tris and Christina

Tris and her brother Caleb

the scheming Jeanine