Critics Rating: 2 stars

Cast : Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courteney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn

Direction: Neil Burger

Genre : Action

Duration: 2 hours 20 minutes

From Veronica Roth’s bestselling novel comes the big movie adaptation that does its flimsy premise no favours.

The dystopian science-fiction is set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago, which is heavily fortified and segregated. It is divided into five factions that are representative of individual qualities – Amity (peaceful), Candor (truthfulness), Abnegation (selflessness), Dauntless (courage) and Erudite (knowledge).

Those who have the misfortune of not belonging to any faction are shunted off to the ghettos and condemned to the life of ‘the factionless’. Therefore, the youngsters, when they come of age, have to take aptitude tests to decide which faction is right for them. The final, irreversible choice is left to them – they can stick by their parent faction or defect to one better suited for their temperament.

Abnegation teen Beatrice Prior gets inconclusive test results and is revealed to be a Divergent by the administrator. This means that she conforms to no particular faction. It is a rarity and an extremely dangerous thing to be in a regulated society.

Beatrice takes the plunge (literally) to join the Dauntless and must try to blend in before someone can unmask her true identity. Not the easiest of tasks when Erudite official Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet) is determined to hunt down every Divergent in the system.

Anybody who’s picked up the latest in the young adult series would gladly queue for this film. The adaptation certainly takes in the storyline and processes it into a pacier, more palatable enterprise than the novel. Unfortunately, that’s only in the first half. In the second half, the plot meanders, mostly because the sequences fall into a relentless, repetitive loop that amps up the drudgery.

Comparisons are inevitable with another popular trilogy in recent times – The Hunger Games. Both have tough heroines, a tightly-controlled regime and the threat of an impending rebellion. Even the Abnegation neighbourhood and attire remind of Katniss Everdeen’s District 12. Divergent has neither the visual majesticity, the political commentary or the emotional connect of its rival franchise.

Would this film have fared better without an in-built comparison in the audience’s mind? That is debatable.

Shailene Woodley (looking like a sober Lindsay Lohan) should not be compared with Jennifer Lawrence, since she gives the film a more identifiable and impressive protagonist than the book. But even her wide-eyed uncertainty doesn’t take away from the looming boredom that’s waiting to descend.

The characters are confined mostly to the rocky interiors of the Dauntless base, which looks like an underground Goth den (and a slight departure from the book’s more Spartan set-up). When they’re not fighting, they’re talking or undergoing simulations. Repeat and rinse. If only they were better fleshed out. Especially the characters that play an important role towards the end.

Some situations are rather contrived. Non-readers will see them coming. Throughout the running time, you will be plagued by the feeling that the film could have been better than what ultimately made it to the final cut.

Even the film’s soundtrack, though good in places, goes overboard in others. It is the climax that pushes the envelope on abject silliness and rumbles over to an unsatisfactory end. No, you will not be very anxious to wait for the sequel or go running to the book store to buy Insurgent.

Book to film adaptations are a bit dicey since the studio has to walk a tight-rope between editing events out to make things interesting or catering to a raving fan base. On this front, you can’t blame the director (Neil Burger) and the scriptwriters (Evan Daugherty, Vanessa Taylor) since they are saddled with the responsibility of adhering to the source material.

However, opinions could be polarised on this one. I may not recommend this but the devout fan following may vehemently insist otherwise.

It is tempting to say that the film is worth a watch for Kate Winslet’s icy bitch avatar, but she does not get much screen-time. A bulk of that goes to Shailene and the brooding Theo James, who gaze heavy-lidded at each other. But hey… it’s still a better love story than Twilight.