“ EVERYONE is worth saving”
As you read this I want you to think about when you bought that new vehicle and you took in that new car smell for the first time. As time goes on that smell we all strive to keep starts to wear off, and we are left looking for ways to recapture that scent. I feel the world of movies based on young adult novels is at that point. Gone is that new car smell, and what we are left with is something that is starting to show a lot of wear and tear, and the smell is not that great either. While we can go and find something new, we instead keep hoping what was once new, can be new once again.
With the Divergent series, it followed the blueprint of the “Hunger Games”, which is a good way to go about it. With a strong female lead in Shailene Woodley and a good supporting cast, all that was left was for the story to carry us home. With the end of “Insurgent” everything looked on the up and up, as the good guys won and captured the city. Now with the aftermath, things seem to be starting down the same path again, as Evelyn (Naomi Watts) carries out the justice of the angry mom on the old regime. Tris (Shailene Woodley) wants nothing to do with that, as she knows there is more beyond the wall. Tris and Four (Theo James) , along with Christina (Zoe Kravitz), Caleb(Ansel Elgort), and Peter (Miles Teller) they leave the comforts of home and head to find what they hope is out there, and what they find will change everything.
As the audience for these films have gotten older, you have to wonder if their desire to continue to follow the story has been lost. With the “Hunger Games” series ending last year, you would think there is a need to be filled. The issue is that they are all staring to blend together into one super movie it seems. With “The Maze Runner” and “Divergent” sporting similar stories, it can be easy to confuse them. To help you sort them out, “Divergent” is the one with the girl, that’s all you need to remember. With “Allegiant” it is easy to expect the worst and hope for the best scenario, and somehow it avoids being either. Where the “Hunger Games” failed to end with a bang as it separated the last two movies, this was something this series looked not to repeat. The filmmakers seemed to have learned from others mistakes and “Allegiant” has decent pace for a two-hour film. It’s helped by spreading out the action sequences and a strong score by Joseph Trapanese. Sure we are not talking about a good movie, but they didn’t mess it up, and that counts for something. As this film ended on its cliffhanger (yes we do have one more to go) it left me curious how it will all end. As someone who did not read the books, only because I am not the intended audience, that ending is a mystery to me. Right now this series is slowly nesting itself behind “Harry Potter”, and although it is way behind, being second is something even a divergent would approve of.
