Critical Analysis and Review of the Movie Divergent

Analysis Paper

For my analysis paper I chose to write on Divergent. This movie was about a dystopian society in which the population is divided into five factions, in this world Tris Prior discovers that she is divergent (fits into all the factions) which proves to be dangerous as the government wants to rid the world of divergent people. This movie takes place in a futuristic Chicago. A major theme in this movie would be identity as Beatrice (Tris) figures out whom she is conformity is also a big theme in the film. The movie stars: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, and Kate Winslet. It was directed by Neil Burge.r. I initially thought I was going to enjoy this movie because it was based on a book that’s been recommended several times.

The inciting incident would be when Tris must take the test to find out what faction she is. The lock in is when she finds out she is divergent. The first culmination is when she must conceal the fact that she is divergent (especially when she is excelling in the simulations). For the main culmination Tris and four (Tobias) must stop the faction Erudite’s plan to become the ruling faction while trying not to stand out as a divergent. The third act twist is when Tris finds out the tracking device that is implanted into each person was actually mind control serum which does not affect divergent s (even though it does end up affecting Tobias who is divergent).

I thought Shailene Woodley did a decent job. She definitely didn’t make the movie unwatchable and she delivered her lines nicely, but she was just missing something, she was too generic. James and Elgort were the same, they didn’t ruin the movie but they didn’t make it exciting either. I thought Winslet did a beautiful job though; it could be because she has far more experience with acting.

The dialogue was effective in communicating to the viewer what the film wanted to portray, but it was also kind of bland. They also have parts where they have too much exposition in the dialogue. Each character did have fitting dialogue specifically Tobias and tris had more 3 dimensional dialogue that showcased their free thinking and divergentness while the others stuck more to the one trait that described their faction.

The lighting was just fine; I was able to watch the movie without trying to make out what was happening on the screen. Objects were framed well too; again you were not left wondering what was going on. The shots were smooth and continuous. Overall the cinematography was beautiful; they put that new technology to use.

The sound effects were great and believable. The songs were super effective. They were modern but dangerous sounding which set the perfect mood for the movie. I thought M83 was really a great choice to feature on the soundtrack, they sound futuristic and upbeat but also like something you could fight to and not too dance music sounding.

They used visual effects to make the movie look more futuristic. They also used them to create the training rooms. The effects were mostly computer generated, they used cgi to show them flying over the city and for scenes such as the mirror scene. Yes they were effective, they made the story come to life and looked so realistic.

I chose it because I heard good things of it and it seemed cool in the commercials. The movie was very entertaining and actually quite interesting, but in the end I didn’t enjoy that much just because I felt the plot was too farfetched with the each faction only gets one personality trait and anyone with all five traits is somehow a huge threat. I also feel the whole “white teenage savior in a dystopian society” thing is getting somewhat cliché in movies.