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

Gaby: What did you guys think of Miles Teller?

Allyson: Miles Teller came close. I never need to see Ansel Elgort in another movie.

Jon: Miles was decent comedy relief.

Melissa: He was the best.

Allyson: I really liked Miles even though, again, he’s not much a character. We could have used more of him as well.

Melissa: And I am not a fan of Ansel.

Jon: Ansel is dead to me.

Gaby: Ansel is so overrated.

Melissa: Gaby—HE REALLY IS.

Jon: There was a moment, when he had a gun and was standing behind Jeanine. I was hoping he would do something heroic.

Allyson: Did you think he was going to kill her?

Jon: But he was a dud, like he has been for two films now.

Allyson: I got so hopeful for a moment.

Melissa: Nope. He’s a coward through and through.

Jon: I thought he had it in him to do it, especially after that train scene.

Allyson: He’s a wet blanket of a character, for sure.

Gaby: He’s really the opposite of his sister.

Melissa: UGH.

Allyson: His character like many of the other characters just didn’t seem to have any real motive for what they were doing. It was all storytelling contrivances to get one character from point A to point B.

Gaby: He seemed like he was being controlled by the SIM’s or whatever. Just a bad combination of the character and Ansel’s blah performance.

Jon: I thought he was supposed to be intelligent and rational, but no intelligent and rational person would side with the people who killed his parents.

Gaby: I think he’s just out for survival and doesn’t care who he betrays.

Melissa: He thought what Jeanine was doing was “right.”

Allyson: But we’re never told why. The movie is so much telling and not enough showing.

Melissa: Why he thinks that?

Gaby: He must be like 0% divergent. LOL

Melissa: He must believe that divergents were the problem, like Jeanine said. He betrayed his sister for no reason, after all.

Gaby: If we go by the explanation in Allegiant, he just doesn’t have the capacity to be brave, selfless, etc. I think he’s the only character that actually fits in the author’s explanation.

Melissa: What do you mean? She meant that there’s different ways to be brave and that the traits kind of interweave with each other.

Jon: Like standing by watching your sister get choked to death.

Allyson: I wanted someone to punch him at that point. “Aw Tris, I wanted to help.” Then why didn’t you, oh my god.

Jon: Me too, but then he made the very conscious decision to let his sister die.

Melissa: I kept waiting for her to explain Tris in the last one. That slo-mo sim sequence was cheesy by the way. It was too long.

Jon: Which one? When she is falling to the fictional ground?

Allyson: No, wait.

Jon: And everything is crumbling around her?

Allyson: The one where she breaks through the glass in the sim.

Melissa: Yes, Ally.

Allyson: And she’s lunging towards Kate Winslet. It had the entire theater in tears laughing because of how awkward it was.

Jon: The CGI Tris was pretty bad.

Melissa: It was so awkward.

Gaby: Yeah, CGI Tris was awful. Also, I adore Kate Winslet, but it depresses me how bad she is in this movie.

Melissa: I liked her more here than in the last movie.

Gaby: Her character just repeats the same thing over and over.

Allyson: I couldn’t take anything she said seriously. Her face never even changed. Like, I get that actors sometimes do films just for the paycheck you know, whatever. But try a little at least.

Gaby: Same. I couldn’t blame Naomi Watts at the end. LOL

Jon: I’m searching my notes to find something else to talk about, but that would mean it actually had some sort of depth I could acknowledge.

Melissa: Exactly. LOL

Gaby: I think we’ve hit that point. Final thoughts?

Melissa: So, I thought it was okay. Theo’s face is my favorite part, and not sure if I’ll be watching Allegiant.

Allyson: I went into the film never expecting to take any of it remotely seriously. I’m not going to recommend anyone to go and see the film, but it’s certainly not the worst film I’ve ever seen, and it will make for a fairly enjoyable viewing once it hits HBO. It’s a “meh” film with an overall goofiness that makes it mildly enjoyable.

Gaby: The movie leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s not a completely regrettable experience. Shailene is great in it and continues to prove her star power. Four is shelled out a little more, which is nice because he plays a (hopefully) bigger role in Allegiant. It’s definitely not as deep as it pretends to be, but once you let that go, it’s not bad, just okay.

Jon: As a person who has not read the books, now will probably never read the books, and as someone who is completely over YA literature with the same core stories being made into films, I’m going to pretend this film was a simulation. It was pretty to look at, and seeing some familiar stars was slightly enjoying, but its complete lack of substance and coherency makes me regret making it this far into what was suppose to be a trilogy. I guess I have two more torturous films to get through since I’ve made it this far.

Thanks for reading! The Divergent Series: Insurgent is now playing in theaters.