After the hype preceding the release of Divergent, it surprised me that the release of Insurgent almost passed me by. It didn’t seem to me that people, specifically teen girls, were getting excited about the sequel’s release, and after the first movie, I was right there with them.

The movie picks up with Tris on the run from Jeanine, the power-hungry head of the Erudite faction who is determined to destroy every last bit of Divergence from the system. While fighting her way through the political turmoil that threatens to tear the already struggling society apart at the seams, she must also grapple with her inner demons, struggling everyday with the guilt she feels regarding deaths in the series’ previous installment. Together with her boyfriend Four, Tris must discover the truth about Divergence and the creation of the faction system.

My criticisms of Insurgent are largely continuations of my criticisms of the first film in the franchise. To begin with, this movie continued on the off-book trajectory set by the ending of the previous film. It hit most of the major plot points and took the story in the general direction of the book, but in other parts diverged completely from the original plotline. Book comparisons aside, the plot itself was somewhat choppy and rushed. Important plot points went unexplained, major plot holes were glossed over, and a few important characters in the book were awkwardly name-dropped with no real purpose other than to include them for the fans. With the exception of Tris (whose evolution I will address later), many of the characters felt very one-sided. Very few were given the opportunity to show complexity, and of those few, most lacked understandable motive or thought process. As a whole, the movie felt disjointed, a bunch of intense action scenes jumbled together with an inconsistent plot and some uncomfortably forced romance to please the target demographic of “boy-obsessed” teenage girls.

The movie did have a few redeemable qualities. Actress Shailene Woodley did an amazing job with the development of Tris throughout the movie. Her internal struggle with grief and guilt was well represented, as was Tris’s growth in independence and strength. Naturally, I enjoyed the strong female main character, the kind of role model every girl needs in modern society. The movie also conveys important messages of self-acceptance, forgiveness, standing up for what is right, and defying the confining labels that society tries to force upon people.

In conclusion, I didn’t think that the movie was worth the ticket price. The trend in young adult dystopian novels has been made into somewhat of a money-making machine, with less emphasis on the quality of the content as movie-makers know that fans loyal to the characters will come. Trust me, you’re money would be much better spent elsewhere.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆