By Kyle Osborne
Not to sound like a curmudgeon, but these so-called “Young Adult” novels turned movies sort of run together for me—which one has Jennifer Lawrence? Is she the same person as Shailene Woodley? What was the name of the one that had Harrison Ford and a kid in it? That was also from a YA book, right? Why are all of these set in a “Dystopian Future?”
You may have deduced that the genre is not my fave, but get this—”Divergent”, the second book in the trilogy and the second movie in a, um… what do you call a trilogy plus one? Anyway—the second in the Divergent series is way better than you’d guess. I was surprised.
The question for non-fans of the books is, “Will I get it? Will I be entertained?”
For the most part, yes.
Since I couldn’t remember what happened in the first one, I went to Wikipedia for a refresher, and if you do the same—just get the basic premise down, you can jump right in as Shaleine Woodley and pals zip around through a post-apocalyptic Chicago, jumping off of things and running from bad guys. There’s a real zing to the pacing, and the visuals are first rate. And, Woodley (yes, I know who she is, she was amazing in “The Descendants”) is quite good; She’s a more accomplished actress than the role demands, but abundance isn’t bad.
There are some very well done action scenes and dream-like sequences that are arm rest clenching, toe curling, gut wrenching fun.
Usually part two’s are merely place holders, just stalling until the conclusion—but “Insurgent” has a good amount of self-containment, narratively speaking. It also finishes with a damn good teaser for the forthcoming final installment(s).
I’m not saying I won’t need another Wiki course by the time the next one of these comes out, but I’m giving a friendly 2 ½ out of 4 stars to “The Divergent Series: Insurgent” It’s rated PG-13.