REVIEWS
The divergent series:
Allegiant
***
Lead Actors: Shailene Woodley,
Theo James, Jeff Daniels, Miles
Teller, Ansel Elgort
Director: Robert Schwentke
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Year Release: 2016 Rating: PG-13
By Alex Shattock
evil and harmful - and they
don’t like Americans. And it’s
always white folk, especially
men, who save the day.
The dialogue is equally
risible with some terrible
one-liners which make you
question whether to take it
seriously or not. Some of the
lines are also unpleasant, for
example when Butler says
that all Middle East countries
that end in ‘stan’ are unwanted community.
Looking at the technical
aspects, the background score
and camerawork are pretty
good. Also, the production
design needs a mention
because designer Joel Collins
did an impressive job in recreating locations like London,
Sana’a and the Punjab. But
the CGI effects are a huge letdown and look cartoonish.
Despite the few positives,
this is not a movie to seriously engage with, lacking
a big storyline or exciting
twists to engage an audience.
Had the director spent
more time on the writing,
Olympus Has Fallen might
have been a better action
entertainer. On a whole, only
for Gerard Butler fans!
Action, suspense, death.
All exhilarating features in this,
the third instalment out of four
in the Divergent franchise.
However, with such a tedious
and baffling plot, we might as
well not bother seeing the rest.
After the big reveal by
Tris’s ancestor that their city
is actually an experiment and
Divergents are the rulers, Tris
and Four intend to see what’s
beyond the wall. When they
do, they discover the people
running the experiment are up
to something catastrophic.
Woodley and James return
again as lead roles Tris and
Four, however their usual
on-screen chemistry wasn’t
as believable this time. And
Woodley who keeps making us
burst into tears (The Fault in
Our Stars), doesn’t cut it.
All characters have their
moments sparking edge-ofseat suspense, but there’s too
much talk, and not much
action. With Daniels playing
the evil mastermind who re-
to Daytona Beach, Florida,
where he hopes to kick-start
his sex life. Jason, however, is
a preppy and uptight fellow,
of the kind you’d happily spill
your morning coffee over on
the Tube.
He’s engaged to his
employer’s daughter, a truly
annoying character with
limited screen time (thank
God). So, what’s not to like?
In a nutshell, the plot consists
of breasts and butt cheeks
protruding from tight bikinis
every 15 minutes, drugs,
binge-drinking, brawling
and every other Spring Break
movie trope there is, designed to excite adolescents
with raging hormones.
Of course there’s the dramatic breaking and salvaging
of Dick and Jason’s bond and,
quite predictably, an alternative love interest for Jason.
But the details are so haphazardly sketched out, that the
storyline goes awol, as you
desperately try to figure out
WTF is going on.
The soundtrack choices
were unfathomable, particularly Beethoven’s Ode to Joy
playing in the background
of a drinking game in slow
motion. And dialogue lines
flagged “funny jokes” left you
feeling you must be missing
something, and that perhaps
you ought to get out more.
Inevitably, there’s some
backstory of déjà vu - Dick
used to work (classified) for
the US government and thus
acquired the skills he deploys
in the plot (just like Jack in
Meet the Fockers and Liam
Neeson in Taken). De Niro
pulls off the ‘sleazy old man’
shtick, but Efron is way too
minds me a bit of Snow in The
Hunger Games, it’s compelling
to watch. Especially when he
appears behind Tris. Creepy!
But the storyline is so
rushed, and there’s virtually
no chemistry between Woodley and James – they’re barely
together on-screen throughout.
Luckily, the soundtrack is again
brilliant, full of drama and
beautiful melodies, thanks to
Joseph Trapanese