Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels, Miles Teller, AnselElgort, Zoë Kravitz, Maggie Q, Ray Stevenson, Daniel Dae Kim, Bill Skarsgård, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts.

Direction:Robert Schwentke

Produced: Lucy Fisher, PouyaShabazian, Douglas Wick

Written: Stephen Chbosky, Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, Noah Oppenheim.

Genre: Action

Duration:120 Mins

In the hierarchy of young adult, dystopian universes, the Divergent movies occupy the lesser rungs of a ladder set very high by The Hunger Games. The first movie in both the series had the heroine defying a totalitarian setting and escaping from the quagmire in a train towards an uncertain future. In the sequel for both films, the ruthless regime strikes back and the heroine is forced to participate in their games to save the people she loves. The third in the series has the heroine and her faithful companions discovering a new settlement in what was considered a wasteland, only to realise that it is a dictatorship as bad as the one they had overthrown.

These thematic similarities resonate throughout the Divergent series, making it a poor imitation of The Hunger Games without the powerful political statement or the compelling characters. You are saddled with a bland lead in Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley, for all her talent, cannot rise above the shaky premise) and an unemotive, hot love interest in Four (Theo James). They spend a lot of screen-time gazing into each other's eyes or leaning in for the umpteenth kiss. Such chemistry. Which is why it gets a little unbelievable that David (Jeff Daniels), The Director, of the advanced wasteland settlement manages to divide the two over basic misunderstandings.

A lot of anything that happens in the film makes little sense. There is a constant flurry of "What-but-why" questions that will bombard you in this film as it must have in the prequels. A flashback or explanation of the various factions would have helped the uninitiated viewer.

Characters constantly change sides and motivations - Peter (Miles Teller) and Evelyn (Naomi Watts) may have already set your teeth on edge with their manipulations in Insurgent, only to remind you that the flip-flops get worse in this film. The villains give the protagonists unprecedented access to their sophisticated technology. It is all but evident that it will be used against them in the climax.
Elements like memory tapes are reminiscent of the Pensieve in the Harry Potter series and all the talky portions between Tris and David seem like a throwback to The Giver. What this film needed was more of Peter's wisecracks, since it is evident that he is the only character with the highest BS detector even if he spouts a lot of it himself when convenient. Peter is the side-effect of all the good characters' generosity in the plot - they never shoot him even when they have the chance.

The CGI will get to you eventually. It is an expanse of red wasteland, special effects rejected from Mad Max: Fury Road. The plot going nowhere meanders and forms a slushy puddle that muddies the senses. There is a fourth film to release next summer called Ascendant. The makers are determined to churn out a trilogy that refuses to pick up steam three films in. Despite the inevitable boredom the trilogy so far has inflicted, the finale will be out. Maybe they should call it Defiant.