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INSURGENT: A FOUR-Way Conversation Style Movie Review of the Divergent Sequel

Jon: One thing I do enjoy from this franchise is how the female lead it is. The films make them all mostly white females, but they are females, nonetheless.

Allyson: Yeah, every big leader, rebel, etc., was a woman, which I greatly appreciated. For the most part, they were the ones moving the pieces.

Jon: Even the Elder was a woman.

Melissa: Fun fact: The elder is Edith Prior. It’s told in Insurgent the book.

Jon: But the thing they all don’t have in common with Tris is that Tris never leads.

Gaby: I think because Tris isn’t a leader. That’s not who she is. Four is a leader. People follow him. It’s not part of her personality to be a leader. Only because she’s Divergent, people force her into the leadership role.

Jon: But Tris is supposed to be basically the pinnacle of humanity. Leading is kind of in the job description, isn’t it?

Gaby: Yeah, but she doesn’t want to.

Allyson: Yeah she never seemed like she wanted to be a hero.

Melissa: Nope, Jon. She’s all about “self-sacrifice.”

Jon: Isn’t that just one aspect of her? Like she’s also Dauntless.

Allyson: She wants to feel safe and avenge her parent’s death.

Melissa: Jon, GOOD POINT. Remember that for Allegiant.

Gaby: She’s set up to be a leader, but she’s not taking it up. She just wants to do her thing.

Jon: I have a feeling I’m not going to like Allegiant. I felt almost every faction pretty much lived up to their distinct characteristics. All except one: The one that was based on intelligence and rationality.

Gaby: Ugh. Allegiant makes me so mad.

Melissa: Gaby, ME TOO!! I want to get into it, but I don’t want to spoil!! LOL

Allyson: How on earth are they splitting the next book into two films?

Melissa: Ally, GOOD QUESTION.

Allyson: Obviously, it was a decision based off of money but man… it hardly worked for the newest Hunger Games, right?

Gaby: The whole concept of the factions makes no sense. I think it’s completely against humanity to have one personality trait.

Melissa. EXACTLY. But they were raised that way.

Allyson: It’s also such an obvious take on the sorting in Harry Potter. LOL

Jon: Unless you’re a robot.

Gaby: It’s like what you said. Not everyone in that faction is exactly how they bill themselves as a whole.

Allyson: But yeah, it’s ludicrous to think that anyone is ever only ONE thing.

Gaby: Now you would think that there would be a good argument for nature vs. nurture in the last book. But NOPE.

Melissa: I mean, Christina is Candor but she’s also kind and brave…so why isn’t she labeled divergent?

Allyson: Because the author got lazy. LOL

Jon: Also, how is that little girl 40% divergent?

Melissa: Jon, no idea. That’s a movie thing, not in the book.

Jon: I was going to say, how does it know what she is if she doesn’t even know who she is yet?

Melissa: I’m going to have fun seeing them explain the whole percentage B.S. in Allegiant.

Jon: It’s all self fulfilling prophecy bullshit.

Gaby: There’s no case for how environment and society influence us in this series. It’s all nature. And the very black and white explanation is infuriating.

Allyson: It’s a Psych 101 course where they give you a personality quiz but in movie format.

Melissa: The “explanation” is ambiguous. Or at least I don’t get it and still have questions….

Jon: I feel like Tris would not have embraced other aspects of her personality if she wasn’t told she had them.

Gaby: She probably wouldn’t have. Four on the other hand always aspired to be all of them.

Jon: He has the sexy tattoos to prove it.

Allyson: I wish Four had been given more to do in the film other than stand around looking cool, beating people up, and running after Tris.

Melissa: Well, he did have the ideas…

Jon: He was the only person moving the story forward.

Allyson: While it’s cool that he was the supporting player to Tris’s character, it seemed like his actually could have dug a little deeper into some more interesting character exploration bits.

Melissa: Ally, in the book, he has a deeper role.

Allyson: Yeah but that doesn’t make him a character.

Gaby: Allegiant is written in both of their perspectives. So since they’re splitting the book in two movies, they should focus on him more. They kind of have to in order for that ending to be impactful.

Jon: Honestly, none of them are real characters to me. They are all shallow simulations, lacking depth and originality.

Allyson: Shailene comes closest because she puts a lot into it; but yeah, they’re all fulfilling roles and that’s about it.