Ten Stars or Less

release date: 20 March 2015 (Canada)
run time: 119 mins
rated: PG
considered: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
director: Robert Schwentke
starring: Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney, Mekhi Phifer, Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Cynthia Barrett, Justice Leak, Lyndsi LaRose, Charlie Bodin, Octavia Spencer, Zoe Kravitz, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Tony Goldwyn

movie summary: The world as we know it has been destroyed and the future doesn’t look bright. Humans are divided up among their skill sets and put into groups to ensure their new way of life continues to move forward. For some, who don’t fit into any particular group, are called Divergents and pose a grave threat to the leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet). When Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) turns into the biggest problem for Jeanine, she’ll spend all her time and effort to bring her in to be sentenced to death. Tris is on the run with her boyfriend Four (Theo James) and the two manage to escape capture before running into someone from Four’s past. Just as the lovers join in on the upcoming fight against Jeanine, word gets out that she has stumbled across a magical boss that holds a message from the founding fathers. In an attempt to lure Tris out of hiding, Jeanine will stop at nothing until she turns herself in because Tris holds the key to the box and their future. 

my thoughts: Divergent didn’t make my top 10 movies of 2014 and when Insurgent came out two weeks ago I felt like I needed to re watch it again. There was not much to remember from the first one and it took me a little while to remember everything leading up to this movie. I didn’t hear a whole lot of good things about Insurgent and a few friends wanted to know if I thought it was as horrible as they did.

I didn’t give the movie a chance heading in and thought the story was all over the place. I know this middle movie is only stepping stone for another film and it really showed on many different levels. There’s a bunch of surprise twists and turns that is meant to draw  you in but nothing actually made me interested in the story or characters until the very end. Only in the movie’s final minutes did I actually get excited about something and what the next movie(s) will bring us.

Shailene Woodley may not be Jennifer Lawrence and I think it’s unfair to compare the two, despite the fact they are both facing the same kind of problems with their respective characters. I’ve never been a fan of Woodley even though she kinda grew on me in this film. One of her best roles is considered to be in The Descendants and I have recently added that movie to my watch list on Netflix. Tris is one unique individual in a world where having a unique personality results in trouble. As the most hunted person in the world, she’ll fight the feelings and nightmares about turning herself in to face the music. The thing I hated the most was how her dreams seemed so real you couldn’t help but wonder what was really happening and what was pretend. I applaud her efforts at the end to take down Jeanine, because the willingness to sacrifice herself to help people is very selfless and heroic.

There’s one aspect of the movie I have to question and that is the PG rating. I get that the Divergent series is meant to be a teenage story but there is a heck of lot of violence in this movie. Whether Theo James’ character is engaged in hand to hand combat or Jai Courtney’s character Eric is gunning down innocent people, there’s more bullets and bloodshed then you can imagine. Of course a future this messed up is gonna be filled with violence, but can we ever get a story that is not all about violence. The Four character is filled with rage and has a thirst for fighting while Eric is paid to keep everyone in order which includes any means necessary. Jeanine is used to getting her way and has never come across someone powerful enough to mess with her dictatorship. She can employ dirty ruthless tactics to keep herself in power and be the unstoppable person at the top of the food chain. I thought her use of Peter (Miles Teller) was excellent because he too was willing to do whatever it took to protect himself and have a prominent role in the future.

The future of this franchise and it’s character will be interesting. The only reason I’m interested in catching the next two films in this franchise is because of the events that ended this film. Much like Mockingjay made me mad beyond words that I can type here, Insurgent did nothing for me except waste my SCENE points. I questioned why the movie was in 3D and came to realize that the industry knew this movie would bomb so they decided the only way for it to make money was to charge more than the regular price. It sounds really harsh but probably has some truth behind it.

my final thoughts: I’m sure the majority of you have already gone to see Insurgent and will agree or disagree with my views. As a sequel this film will let you down on many levels, but as a bridge to something bigger and better Insurgent served it’s purpose. I have to admit I’ll never read the books and don’t quite understand why this was called Insurgent, but hey there are greater mysteries in life.

my star rating: 4 out 10

imdb: 7.0 out 10 
metascore: 42/100 
rottentomatoes: 31% out 100% 
roger ebert: 2.5 out 4
richard crouse: 2.5 out 5