Part three in the Divergant series begins where part two ended; with the “shock” reveal that the whole faction system that rules in the ruins of Chicago is an experiment put in place by mysterious beings beyond the city wall. For Tris (Shailene Woodley) and her beefcake boyfriend Four (Theo James), that means they have to go beyond the wall; the new government, busy killing off the survivors from the old regime, disagrees.
Until now the Divergant series has been a fun, fast-moving mess. This instalment (carved out of the first half of the final book in the series) drags and stumbles as it replaces the series’ few interesting ideas with suspicious scientists (most notably Jeff Daniels) and a sinister conspiracy so obvious the bad guys might as well be cackling evilly. Tris is played for a dupe for a chunk of the story, giving Woodley (the series’ biggest strength) little to work with, and while the visual side of things remains strong – it’s fun to see a dystopian future that isn’t all desert, though there’s plenty of that – the action sequences are straight-up dull. At least Miles Teller’s Peter gets to turn bad for the third film in a row; his greasy self-interest is the only human thing left in these films.
Reviewed by Anthony Morris
