Insurgent Review
PG13: Intense Violence and Action Throughout, Some Sensuality, Thematic Elements and Brief Language
Summit Entertainment, Red Wagon Entertainment
1 hr and 59 Minutes
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller, Kate Winslet, Ansel Elgort, Naomi Watts, Zoe Kravitz, Jai Courtney, Ashley Judd, Octavia Spencer, with Ray Stevenson, and Keiynan Lonsdale
Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during my adolescence. Outdated language might be seen in these old posts. Since then, my thoughts and values have grown. This review is being presented as they were originally written, grammatical errors, shitty sentence structure, and typos galore. Because to do otherwise would be that same as claiming these flaws never existed.
BACKSTORY: Monday March 16th, there was an Insurgent premiere in NYC. I decided not to go, because I had to take my sister out to the regular screening I won passes for. Since she doesn't know how to travel around New York, I took her to a theater she was familiar. Surprisingly they gave us the screening in IMAX which was pretty cool for them to do. If they just provided food, I would've been more grateful.
STORYLINE: Beatrice Prior must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart with the help from others on her side.
REVIEW: When it comes to popular YA novels being adapted into movies, theres a good ratio of them that work. On the other hand to the sequels most of them fall flat on its face. Movies such as Chronicles of Narnia, Percy Jackson, and most of all Twilight are prime examples of okay films that suffered from a shitty sequel. Now we got Divergent the new YA franchise that had a pretty fun and solid first film. The predecessor Insurgent is nothing but a complete mess. I avoided Divergent purposefully because it looked like a total knockoff of Hunger Games, but I was surprised on how completely original it was. This on the other hand is a predictable and dramatic knock off of Catching Fire in a lot of ways. When a movie opens with a dramatic scene of a character cutting her hair, you know you're not going to have a good time. Already the tensions are high for Tris and our other main leads Four, Peter, and Caleb [ha ha she had sex with all of them in different movies] which leads to endless scenes of exposition only to end with an action sequence. When it comes down to it, the action is pretty badass. Story-wise there are too many things going on where when you think about it, is completely generic. Even the characters feel as if they've became more shallow and unlikable. Our heroine Tris is more of a very whiny brat. We see she's traumatized by her actions in the 1st film, but the way she acts towards others (with the exception of one scene that you'll get when you watch it) makes her more of an asshole than a hero. What makes Tris even worse is that when she's moody, she needs to get clearance from her boyfriend Four whose relationship with her feels extremely distracting and shoved down my throat in accordance to the plot. The chemistry between Neo and Trinity is more believable than them. The side characters are just as shallow as Tris, but the only person that stands out is Miles Teller as Peter. The first film he was just the typical rival dickhead, but in here he's more of a wild card. He's still a dick, but he's funny an unpredictable. Where most of the comedy here is awkward, the jokes that play off Peter is naturally funny. The villains here are very one dimensional. I'm not that fond of Jai Courtney, but here he's as cunning as he was in Divergent. Yet Kate Winslet still has no character. All she does is hold a device and give orders. At least in Hunger Games President Snow was despicable and scared the shit outta you with his power. Sadly Winslet, Watts, and Spencer are nothing but wasted talent. They only have 5 - 10 minute screentime and we get no depth with any of their characters. Speaking of Hunger Games, Insurgent manages to rip off another aspect: rebels. The rebels in HG are warriors, but in Insurgent they come across as a MTV real world crew. Giving all these complaints I would point out that the last 20 minutes is visually amazing. The virtual sequences the movie ends on is pretty strong. Less than 20 minutes you actually get character development, emotion, and most of all tension
IMAX 3D: I don't know if its just me, but the 3D conversion felt unfinished. From the last 20 minutes you do get a great 3D sequence, but the 1st hour and a half, it's not really used effectively. Some tracking shots are diluted where you see two figures of the same character standing in front of each other. My sister and I had this problem, so I asked my friend who went to the premiere if her 3D was good and she told me she had the same probelems. Long story short, don't go 3D for Insurgent.
LAST STATEMENT: Though it prospers from a strong 20 minute conclusion with brilliant visual effects, Insurgent is a complete cluttered mess that wastes its talented cast to demean themselves in shallow one dimensional roles.
Rating: 2/5 | 42%
Super Scene: Tris VS. Nega Tris/ Tris' sim test
