Divergent (2014) Review - Like The Hunger Games But Bad | Movie Waffle

Divergent (2014) directed by Neil Burger - Ah yes, the series that killed the YA dystopia hype. God, Divergent wants to be the Hunger Games badly. Sorry, but no. The Hunger Games would eat Divergent for lunch; pun intended. 

Divergent is set in ruined Chicago and follows some politician’s 16 year old daughter, Tris, as she realizes she is “not like the other girls”. In this dystopian future, teens are sorted into “factions” which are basically houses from Harry Potter or districts from The Hunger Games. Our distinguished heroine is told by her sorting proctor that she is “divergent” aka she has an affinity for multiple factions—and that’s bad:


“If you don’t fit into a category they can’t control you!”


“I don’t get it.”


Well I’m right there with you thrift store Katniss. Who tf is “they”? Proper nouns: use them. Also we learn later that divergents can be controlled, so that was a lie. Surely the point of our protagonist being “divergent” or there even being a divergent concept in this world is pointless then. Kind of like this movie.


Token family members that receive negative minutes of screen time and whom I care nothing for. Token well-dressed baddie with zero depth. Token rando friends and bullies that all look the same. Token romance option serving massive tsundere energy and fake, breathy American accent. And can I just say that teen girl + older teacher is a really disconcerting trope that I’ve noticed in teen fiction from a decade ago. Creepy.


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