The scene is a futuristic Chicago. In this world, everyone is divided into factions based upon their virtues such as bravery, selflessness or intelligence. When children turn 16 years of age, they are tested to determine which faction they should belong to. While factions are believed to be the answer to world peace, unfortunately this division can cause split families, “faction before family.”

Beatrice, our hero, goes through the testing where it is revealed that she is actually a Divergent. Divergents don’t belong to any faction and are believed to be a threat to the government because their minds cannot be controlled. Unfortunately, buried somewhere deep within the movie premise, there is a sinister plot to get rid of all Divergents.

At the ceremony, Beatrice makes the decision to leave her family to join the Dauntless faction, and changes her name to Tris. The movie follows her struggles, both mental and physical as she goes through the training to become a permanent Dauntless and to keep her Divergent secret from the group.

Based on the movie trailers, I was eagerly looking forward to this movie. The problem is that the movie seemed a bit disjointed. For example, while the Dauntless fighting scenes were “edge of the seat” exciting, it seemed that the whole premise of the movie “Divergents” really didn’t have a starring role. Throughout the movie, I wasn’t sure if there were other Divergents or when they would be revealed. In addition, the thought of the Erudite, the intelligence faction, creating a mind-controlling device to overthrow the Abnegation faction to become the ruling faction was a bit confusing. I kept asking, "what about the Divergents?"

Shailene Woodley did an excellent job in the role of Tris. She was absolutely believable as we watched her struggle to become a member of Dauntless. Jai Courtney, fresh off his role in A Good Day to Die Hard was quite enjoyable as the leader of Dauntless. Ashley Judd, also plays Tris' mother in a very understated role.

Overall, it’s a good action movie to watch if you're looking for action over substance. I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

Details:
Run Time:PG-13
Run 2 hr. 19 min.
Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Neil Burger

Divergent is available on Amazon.com

I rented this movie from the local video store for my own viewing pleasure and have not been compensated for this review.