INSURGENT: A Perfectly Serviceable Sequel

I had read Veronica Roth’s Divergent before the adaptation sauntered onto cinema screens, heralded as the next The Hunger Games, and what I discovered was that I preferred the film to the book. There was more action on show, and I felt that the film fixed many of the things I found problematic with the book’s narrative. So when I discovered that the book of Insurgent didn’t impress, I decided to bypass it and wait for the film. I ultimately watched Insurgent as a fan, but one unhindered by allegiance to the book. This probably didn’t matter in the long run because, like fans of the franchise have concluded, Insurgent isn’t bad.

An Acting Feast For The Eyes

Insurgent begins just days after the Divergent film ends. Tris (Shailene Woodley), her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort), her boyfriend Four (Theo James) and enemy Peter (Miles Teller) have found shelter at an Amity community outside of the city. This group of actors were my favourite part of Insurgent. I love watching Woodley and Teller especially. This is their third film together and I can understand why, as they have a definite chemistry that makes me wish the character of Peter wasn’t so underused.

Ansel Elgort and Theo James are equally watchable, but they don’t quite sustain the energy of their fellow actors. Elgort is great at communicating Caleb’s place in the world, as he is much slower to react than his Dauntless sister. Often, though, he seems a bit too stiff. James, on the hand, is great on screen but I feel that Four is very underwritten as a character and James isn’t left with much more to do than saunter around and try to look moody. It’s also sort of off-putting that, despite how good James’s American accent is, it does feel a bit too gravely after a while.

Outside of this central group we have characters that are underwritten, and actors who I feel are maybe not trying their best. Kate Winslet is too guarded in her performance of Jeanine, and I feel that she could have accentuated the arrogance and spite of the character. Naomi Watts is, to be honest, making me question her acting talents on a film-by-film basis. In this she appears two-dimensional and basic. Most disappointing is Jai Courtney as Eric. I’ve never really held Courtney in high estimation but in this he is just a bit annoying and boring.

However, to say all these problems are the actors’ fault wold be unfair. The characters are not very well written, and outside of Tris and Peter I don’t feel that any of them would be able to offer any real depth. The one great surprise about the script is the nature of Tris and Four’s relationship. In any other film Tris would be subservient to Four’s inclinations or mood changes, but in this film, in this relationship, they are equal. They fight but there’s never really any need for make-up kissing, because their relationship is founded on understanding and respect, which makes for a refreshing change.

The Middle

Basically, Insurgent is an okay movie. It continues Tris’s story in the right direction. It has the necessary character development, some interesting special effects sequences and a few twists, which even if you see coming are nice all the same. But, it’s not gripping and it’s not tense. Insurgent reminds me of the middle of a film, or the middle of a book. There’s stuff happening – it’s carrying you along, engaging your interest, but it’s not really making you feel anything.

But, I wonder, whether this is the whole point of Insurgent. It’s not supposed to be some great beginning or end, as it’s the middle of a trilogy. So, really, all that it needs to do is open up the story and show us what the characters are really made of. That being said, the film could have tried harder. For that matter, Divergent could have as well. Jeanine could have been more of a threat. Eric could have been more dark and deadly. Caleb could have been more mysterious. All these things could have been, but ultimately if these things weren’t in Veronica Roth‘s books in the first place then we can’t blame the films for not living up to them either.

Obvious & Unfair Comparisons

What is really against Insurgent from the start is the unfair comparisons we as the audience make to similar films. The Divergent trilogy is not The Hunger Games. Yes, it’s the future, it’s dystopian and the lead is a female. But, really, this isn’t much to go on when comparing films. Plenty of other dystopian films have men as a central character, but we don’t go around comparing Deckard in Blade Runner to Quaid/Hauser in Total Recall, and these two films are even adapted from the same author. But because teenage female protagonists are thin on the ground, the comparisons between Katniss and Tris are inevitable. Even though it’s illogical.

If you put aside their age and sex there’s not a great deal of similarities between Katniss and Tris. Katniss is a girl who has been forced to be strong in the wake of her father’s death, and her mother’s depression. Her strength means that she, almost accidentally, ends up fighting on behalf of the weak in an oppressive society. Tris, on the other hand, is a complex girl whose individuality places her as dangerous, and she rises to the challenge that has been unfairly placed at her feet. What these two girls mostly have in common is that they’re both very strong characters.

Are strong females so unusual, so out of the ordinary, that when we have two we have to start comparing them, because we are only allowed to have one? Is there a quota on how many female protagonists we are allowed to watch? I really don’t think so. The other problem with comparing Katniss and Tris is that we compare their stories and the writing of the authors who created them, which is also unfair. Roth’s world is very different from Suzanne Collins’s. The Divergent world is quiet and mysterious, with the power being divided among factions, and although there is an enemy it is not a brutal, oppressive force. The Hunger Games, however, in President Snow and the Capitol, have an omnipresent evil power to reckon with and ultimately conquer.

Essentially, The Divergent trilogy is about a coup in a world where nobody knows exactly what’s going on. To judge Insurgent because it is not scary or gripping enough is unfair, because I don’t think that such a world was intended by Veronica Roth. She intended the trilogy to be about confines and individualism, and not about the kind of oppressive dystopia we see in Collins’s work.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Insurgent is decent. It’s an okay adaptation that has been competently made into a film. There are some cool special effects and the acting is as good as it can be. Which, if you’re a fan of these particular characters and this particular world, you’ll be pleased with.

But if you’re looking for a gripping thriller set in the throws of a dystopian drama, you’re going to find the film lacking. It’s not heart-racing with twists and turns, it’s just a slow reveal of things we probably already know about characters and stories of this type. But it is an entertaining film and, ultimately, a perfectly serviceable sequel.

There is one last thing, before you go. Let me just tell you why I think this film deserves to be watched, by fans and non-fans alike. Tris is a bold and complex character. And while she could have been written a little better, what she does bring to the screen is impressive. She is sensitive, but brave. She is physically strong, but intelligent and morally sound. Shailene Woodley plays her well and makes her a great pleasure to watch.

Tris is one of my all time favourite heroes because she is probably one of only a few female characters who triumph on the cinema screen because of their sensitivity as well as their strength. That makes her important, not just for me, but for a whole generation of young girls who will watch this film. So while Insurgent is just an okay film, as a foray into women being awesome badasses, it’s an incredible success.

Have you seen Insurgent? Did you like it? Do you find that you compare Tris to Katniss?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suZcGoRLXkU

(top image source: Entertainment One)