Sunday, August 24, 2014

Let's Talk : Divergent (Movie)

A couple days ago I watched Divergent (based on the book written by Veronica Roth). I know. I know. What kind of fan waits so long to watch the movie? And if I was waiting for the DVD becauseAllegiant (the third and final book in the series) right at the end of last year and that it really bummed me out.
I didn't want to watch it in the theater for whatever reason, why did I wait so long after the DVD release to watch it? These are questions that I don't have answers to. There is nothing I can say really other than that I wasn't that hyped about the movie to begin with and I'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact that I read

So maybe before I get into the movie I should talk a little about Allegiant.

Allegiant came out towards the end of October and, as excited as I was, I didn't get to it right away because of my never ending backlog of books that I NEED to read. It only took me just over a month to get to it though which is really saying something because I've had books like Cinder, Throne of Glass and Shatter Me on my TBR for years before I finally got around to reading them this year... but that's a whole another issue. So, I started reading Allegiant and it took me nearly 20 days to complete it. Normally, it takes me about a week max and that's if I'm having a busy week. Otherwise, I can finish a book in 2-3 days. Granted, I did have finals around that time but I just wasn't able to really get into the story. It just felt slow; it was lacking the excitement that made me love the first two books, and the ending completely bummed me out. I really wanted it to end in a "BANG", which I guess it did, but it wasn't the kind that I was hoping for. I was in denial of what happened at the end. I just didn't want to believe that that was how this story was going to end. After completing the book, I found myself very unsatisfied with the conclusion and Allegiant became another book on my list of disappointing series endings (there seemed to be lot of these in 2013).

**It should be noted that I don't mean to say that Allegiant is a bad book. It's a good book. I just didn't think it was a good series concluder.**

Coming off of Allegiant, I wasn't getting too excited about the Divergent movie. In the past, I've fangirled at trailers and clips and even obsessively watched tons of interview and promotional footage that comes out near the release date. This happened with all of the Twilight movies, the Hunger Games movies, The Mortal Instruments, Vampire Academy, etc. but it didn't happen with Divergent. I watched the trailer and decided that the movie looked like it would be good. I watched a clip later on too but that was it. I wasn't super excited around the time the movie was coming out nor did I feel any need to go see it while it was playing in theaters. I just wasn't hyped up about Divergent. I was completely satisfied with waiting for the DVD which is exactly what I did.

"First jumper Tris" (Source)
So now we're back to the original topic of the post, the Divergent movie.

I watched it.

I really really liked it.

I fangirled at all the iconic scenes. I definitely did the 'rewind-play' thing many times so I could watch all those moments over and over again. I was so happy with the way they did all the scenes and the only thing I felt like it was lacking was Tris and Four scenes. Yup. The only thing I would change is adding more Tris and Four so that all of us can better appreciate the beauty of Fourtris. Although, I'm probably very biased so the movie is great just the way it is.


If we, YA fans, have learned anything from experience it is that when a book is turned into a movie, chances are there are going to be things that we aren't satisfied with. Missing scenes. Changed storyline. The entire movie. We've all lived through a lot of not-so-great YA movies. But every now and then, a movie is made from one of our favorite books and it's so good that we overlook all the deviations (or should I say divergences) and just appreciate it for what it is. Its rare, but it happens and Divergent is one such success story.

Now, I just hope that I'll end up liking Allegiant the movie better than I liked Allegiant the book.

2 comments:

  1. I also love the movie! Although I'm not a super big fan of Shailene Woodley I thought she played the part of Tris perfectly.
    My favorite scene is probably when they are in the canteen at Dauntless headquarters and Tobias says something along the lines of 'What gives you the idea that you can talk to me', to which Tris replies 'It must be because you're so approachable'. I was literally lauging out loud in the theater.

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    1. I loved that scene! I rewinded it and watched it again. It was so perfect.
      I can't wait for Insurgent!

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