120 minutes, Sci-Fi Action/Adventure, M

Foreword – Please do not read on if you are yet to see either or both DIVERGENT and INSURGENT, and wish to.

In DIVERGENT, Tris (Shailene Woodley) learned that she is a divergent and of a plot to destroy all of her kind. Without fully understanding exactly what she was and what made her dangerous, she’d teamed up with other divergents to find out, in a world grouped and divided by certain characteristics you possess. Then came INSURGENT, a fight against a now known alliance run by Jeanine (Kate Winslet). The finale of INSURGENT looks set to take this series into a whole new direction, after fellow divergent and love interest to Tris, Four (Theo James) discovers his Mother, Evelyn (Naomi Watts), leader of a Factionless territory. Now, here is ALLEGIANT, once known as part 1 and still in two parts with the final instalment named THE DIVERGENT SERIES – ASCENDANT, scheduled for a 2017 release. With the defeat of Jeanine accomplished and the message inside the box revealed, Tris and Four, together with their divergent sidekicks are set to discover what has become of the outside world.

With the similarly-themed (and much better) THE HUNGER GAMES series all but over, will the curiosity for where THE DIVERGENT SERIES will conclude result in a surging increase to its popularity? Current box office trends suggest a big no ($54M & $52M US opening weekends respectively for the first two films and just $29M for this!). Anticipation levels are running hot throughout the opening act of ALLEGIANT. Whether or not this can be sustained depends heavily on your willingness to embrace the plot developments that follow on. Without sharing the details of those developments, I can emphatically state that they are the primary reason ALLEGIANT soon becomes cold. Disappointingly, the journey of Tris and crew has only a rare moment of excitement. Any initial intrigue often falls into a repetitious trap it cannot dig itself out of and there’s a complete lack of emotion and connection to the characters from all of the cast. As ALLEGIANT tiredly staggers towards the finish line, it barely musters up a cliffhanger finale.

So, we now await the final chapter to close the franchise – THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ASCENDANT. Let’s hope that the vision of a fresh director to the series in Lee Toland Krieger (THE AGE OF ADALINE), can get things back to its intelligently absorbing and thematically inspiring best, as promised from early.

2.5 out of 5

ALLEGIANT – Film Trailer

An M rating for Fantasy Violence and also contains a scene of nudity, although nothing can be seen thanks to the lighting work.

Moviedoc wishes to thank Claire from Entertainment One, Entertainment One and The Backlot Studios for the invitation to the Melbourne Media Screening of ALLEGIANT.

Review by Moviedoc
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