DIVERGENT
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet, Miles Teller, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Tony Goldwyn, Zoe Kravitz
The success of the Harry Potter and Twilight movies have led to a new genre of movies based on young adult novels, particularity books of a series. Within the past two years, there have been numerous pre-teen/teen sagas to hit the big screen hoping to be the next big thing. Studios are willing to produce them as they can be huge cash cows. If they can drum up some big names in the lead roles, it can be even more lucrative. Some are huge successes like The Hunger Games while others seem to fizzle likeBeautiful Creatures and The Mortal Instruments.
The next young adult series headed to the big screen is Divergent based upon the books by Veronica Roth. If you saw The Spectacular Now, you are familiar with Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller. Woodley shined in The Descendants, which may be more familiar to you. She stars as Beatrice Prior who lives in a dystopian Chicago which has now been divided into five factions based on particular virtues. At the age of 16, Beatrice must decide which faction she belongs to and live with the consequences that come with that decision. What would a young adult series be like without some sort of dangerous initiation process and a love story to get in the way of our heroine.
Now you may be thinking, Paul, why do you care about this movie? The trailer looks interesting and has more appeal than some of the supernatural/vampire/magical type universes we’ve seen in other teen dramas. I would also like to point out that my KATE WINSLET plays a huge part in it! She is really the reason why I have an interest in this movie. I have followed Kate from very early on in her career and firmly believe she is one of the best actresses working today. To top it off, she steps outside her normal realm and plays the villain in the movie!
What are your thoughts on Divergent? Is it the next big hit or just another teen saga to add to the list?
Release Date: March 21, 2014
Here’s the trailer:
