Divergent: movie review

Grade: A-

Date: March 28, 2014

Location: Citadel Stadium 16
Notes: Great casting choices.

I like when I can watch a movie that I’ve just read the book for, especially when the movie has already been cast before I've finished the book. I can then picture the characters and the vision that the author had, while reading the superior storyline that can only come with a book.

This movie adaptation of Divergent did not disappoint! I think it covered all of the bases of the book and included a lot of details, a tough task to do for a movie that is only a little over 2 hours.

My only criticism is that they didn’t go as dark as the book did, and I don’t know if they did that for a specific reason (like the rating?), but I kind of wish that it did. For example, they did not show the girl falling to her death while trying to jump from the train to the roof in the very beginning or how Peter stabbed Edward in the eye because he was first place. 

In fact, if you are not paying attention, you might not notice that Edward just isn’t there after the first initiation rounds. Or you may have not even noticed him at all and I think this was a mistake as he plays a rather large role in the second book, with an eye-patch. I can only assume that he was the tall guy in the background of some of the scenes. Now, I am wondering how they are going to all of a sudden bring him into the picture without any backstory - I guess they could do a flashback. I digress.

Overall opinion is that I think the movie actually described how Tris could beat being Divergent even better than the book did. It made more sense to me as the book has me question some of the things that happen and was a little confusing at times. I think that the movie, even on its own, was very entertaining and the casting was great. Especially Tobias Eaton. ;)