Insurgent

Thursday night I went to the first screening of Insurgent with my cousin Emily and we had such a great time!  I loved this movie and I loved seeing it with my cousin.  Tris, Four, and their small band of rebels take refuge, first with Amity, and with the Factionless, and finally with Candor.  However, Jeanine needs a Divergent to open a box containing a message from the city's founders so Tris eventually surrenders in order to stop the needless killing of the rebels.  Tris undergoes a series of simulations, one for each faction, to discover the message which changes everyone's perceptions of the Divergents.  It is very rare that I like the movie adaptation better than the book, but in this instance I think the movie is much more cohesive.  I lost the thread of the story in the book and the differences (and there are a lot of them) in the movie helped me tie everything together.  Shailene Woodley has a much more emotionally complex role as Tris in this installment as she struggles with the consequences of her actions and she does an outstanding job, particularly in the scene where she confronts herself in one of the simulations.  I also loved Kate Winslet as the evil Jeanine and I really enjoyed her Eva Peron-like propaganda pieces projected on the buildings and vehicles in the city.  However, I thought the casting of Naomi Watts as Evelyn was odd because she doesn't seem old enough to be Four's mother.  Also, all of the other actors in the movie seem like window dressing (with the exception of Miles Teller as Peter who has a few amusing scene-stealing moments) because the narrative focuses so much on Tris and her guilt.  The action sequences and special effects, especially during the simulations, are incredible.  Devotees of the novels by Veronica Roth may be upset by all of the changes (dare we hope that there might be significant changes in Allegiant?) but they worked for me and I recommend the movie for what it is:  an escapist action adventure!

Note:  This week I spent time with three of my cousins!  I love that!