At The Movies I Divergent

On Thursday I went to my local Empire Cinema to see the first instalment of the three part sci-fi action film, Divergent. It is based on a novel by Veronica Roth with the same name.

It is set is a futuristic version of  Chicago where society has been split into five different groups as a means of keeping the peace after a brutal war many years ago. At the age of 16 citizens must undergo a test that decides which group they best fit into and at the Choosing Ceremony they must pick, with the test results in mind, which group they wish to join. However, once they join a group they cannot change their mind. If a person is thrown out their group they will be declared Factionless and we will be seen as the lowest of the low in their society; not better than a lump of dirt on a pure white carpet.

The film follows a girl named Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) whose test results shown that she does not fit into just one of the five groups but several. This is a very rare occurrence and is known as being 'divergent'.  People ,like Tris, who are divergent are seen by many as a threat to their peaceful society and therefore must be terminated. For that reason Tris must keep her true test results a secret and hide her identity within one of groups, hoping that nobody will find out. However within her chosen group she is put through gruelling training exercising that challenge her both physically and mentally. With her guard weakened, people begin to suspect she is different and it is not long before another war breaks out and she has no choice but to protect to people she loves, even if that means revealing her secret to the world!

Normally I will read the book of the film first before I go to see it, but this time I did the opposite. Walking into the dark room of the cinema, I had no idea what to expect from this film apart from the information that I had gained from watching the trailer below:

At first ,while I gorged on popcorn (that I promised myself I wouldn't eat until the film started) during the initial adverts, I wondered if I would become bored by the film as it lasted for over two hours. However I was pleasantly surprised that I was not bored at all, in fact it was the complete opposite! For the majority of the film I was on the edge of my seat, jumping with excitement for what was about to happen next; a jittering ball of nerves with my hand almost permanently glued to my mouth to suppress the gasps of shock as the plot took another unexpected twist; quiet literally feeling the emotions of the characters as they were plunged into the deep end; laughing at the funny bits; crying at the sad bits; crying at the happy bits and towards the end just crying for the heck of it. The talented actors/actresses just added to this with special recognition going to Shaliene Woodley who "played a blinder" (as my family would say) as the lead role. I'm sure the casting for this character will please the novel's original  fan base, which is about to get much bigger believe me! And I must say I was very entertained by the directors attempt to hide Kate Winslet's  (who plays Jeanine, the evil leader of the revolting group who start the new war) baby bump!

Honest, Divergent it is one of the best films that I have had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. A close second to The Hunger Games and Harry Potter films. A must-see 2014 film, but don't forget your popcorn because after all a film without popcorn can hardly be classed as a film can it?

 "What Makes You Different Makes You Dangerous" but I says what's the fun in being predictable,

Love Beth xx