Review of Insurgent (2015) by Filipeneto — 14 Feb 2021

After the resounding success of "Hunger Games", American studios were hungry for more films and trilogies for young adults. "Maze Runner" and "Divergent" were two of the most evident cases, with scripts and source material that, in everything, remind us of "Hunger Games".

In this film, the follow-up of "Divergent", we will see Jeannine's rise to power and the escape of Tris and Four. They lost friends and family in the military coup against Abnegation, and they take refuge with the Amity. The truce, however, is short: while Jeannine needs to find a specific, particularly strong Divergent, who opens a box where the Founders recorded a message, Four will find an unlikely ally, determined to overthrow the Erudite: his mother, Evelyn, who all assumed to be dead.

Personally, I think the film is a very dignified continuation, which honors the predecessor and entertains the audience quite well. Nevertheless, and like the first film, the script suffers from serious logic problems. For example, the strange way in which Tris looks traumatized and in shock with the events at the end of the previous film and quickly overcomes this, being able to fight. I think it would have been better for the film to follow the original book more closely, which was not done.

Imported from the previous film, the cast is quite good and competent. Shailene Woodley is beautiful, and I was surprised to see her without her long hair, but it was a change of look that fits the film and marks how much the character was marked by the previous events. The actress, moreover, did a good job. Theo James was also excellent, particularly in the action scenes, and I feel that he had more space and screen time to work here. Miles Teller is good, but hateful, and Jai Courtney is even more hateful, brutish and sadistic than in the first movie, which was great, given that the character demanded it. Kate Winslet goes from coldness to absolute inhumanity and transforms Jeannine into a potential genocide, while her arch rival, Evelyn, was brilliantly played by Naomi Watts, clearly implying that she is not, and will never be, a good option to rule the city. On the negative side, I was sad to see the way Zoe Kravitz almost disappeared from the film and I hated the constant changes in loyalty of Ansel Elgort's character.

Technically, the film is visually impressive. The cinematography is excellent, vibrant and sharp, and I loved the landscapes of a half-destroyed and decadent Chicago, of dry rivers and lakes and devastated buildings. Incredible, but not coherent: if the entire human population was there, wouldn't more space be needed? Why not rebuild the buildings? Didn't they have two hundred years of peace to do so? Another thing I liked and found amazing was the action and fighting sequences. Really well executed. The sets and costumes were very well done, the highlight being the Amity headquarters, which looks like a mix of futuristic planting and a hippie camp. The soundtrack also fits into the overall ensemble.