Insurgent Review

Despite solid performances from an ensemble cast, the second instalment in the Divergent series fails to offer anything new to the Young Adult genre.

By Lilian Lee

Insurgent

Action, Science Fiction [PG13]
Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet
119 min

As the Hunger Games series reaches its inevitable end this year, audiences are looking for the next big young adult franchise. The Divergent series seems poised to fill that position.

Despite strong performances from an ensemble cast, however, the franchise’s second instalment suffers from an increasingly predictable formula seen in so many young adult series before it.

Picking up shortly after where Divergent left off, Tris Prior and Tobias ‘Four’ Eaton are on the run after foiling the plans of Erudite faction leader Jeanine Matthews in the previous film. Still haunted by the death of her parents, Tris enlists the help of fellow Divergents (outcasted individuals who possess the traits of more than one faction), as she attempts to take the fight to Jeanine and stop her from taking control of a crumbling faction system.

Despite being the second movie in a trilogy, one does not necessarily need to watch the first to make sense of Insurgent. The series’ concept of factions is repeated throughout the film to orientate new viewers, though one might draw comparisons to other titles such as the Harry Potter franchise and realise that the overall plot doesn’t offer anything particularly new.

The events in Insurgent are also far too convenient, removing any sense of suspense whatsoever by working heavily in favour of its protagonists. In one scene, Tris and Four avoid a barrage of bullets despite being shot at from arm’s length, proceeding to escape unscathed on a train that seemingly appears out of nowhere. While science fiction movies require a certain suspension of disbelief, scenes like these undermine the action that plays out on screen.

Fortunately, Insurgent’s dystopian universe offers an aesthetically diverse collection of locales, with each faction having their own distinctive headquarters that serve to accentuate the particular tone of a scene. Action-packed sequences are complemented by the Erudites’ high-tech facility, while the Factionless’ dingy base serves as a buffer for less dynamic moments.

Among the cast, Shailene Woodley delivers the strongest performance as Tris. Much like Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games, Tris struggles with guilt and self-doubt stemming from the events of the previous films, and the vulnerability that Woodley conveys will resonate with viewers. Theo James as Four, on the other hand, broods for a good part of the film, but occasionally shows a softer side of himself as Tris’ love interest.

Insurgent also benefits from a strong supporting cast. Kate Winslet’s cool, calculating demeanour as Jeanine is a refreshing change from the other hot-headed youths featured in the film, while Miles Teller (last seen in the Oscar-nominated film Whiplash), provides an effective sense of moral ambiguity as returning character Peter Hayes despite receiving little screen time.

For more mature audiences, Insurgent will seem like just another young adult movie that fails to set itself apart from many before it. For fans of the genre, however, the safe approach that the film adopts will continue to entertain with its formulaic mix of action and romance.