The traditional clique-system is writ large and lent a post-apocalyptic makeover in the dystopian future envisioned by young adult novelist Veronica Roth (whose writing seems to have taken a page from the Myers-Briggs personality test rather than Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces).
In a decimated Chicago that cowers behind a fortified wall, citizens pledge themselves to factions boasting unwieldy names like Abnegation, Candour and Erudite. When it’s time for our teenage heroine Tris (Shailene Woodley) to pick who she’ll run with, she opts for Dauntless. And why not? They sprint around in rowdy mobs, leap out of moving trains, zip line through the city, sport bad-ass tattoos and include the brooding, soulful Four (Theo James) among their number.
From the outset, we’re aware that Tris is “divergent,” demonstrating attributes of multiple factions. However, there’s no sense of the dire ramifications that await should anyone discover this, depriving her secret of any gravity. Likewise, Dauntless’ extreme stunts hardly register as death-defying when no one ever perishes. Dutifully directed by Neil Burger, the film desperately needs a few of Star Trek “redshirts” — stock characters who meet early demises in order to establish the deadly stakes.
Instead, we endure almost two hours of consequence-free training sequences that only serve to slowly manoeuvre Tris and Four into a position whereby they might finally lock lips only for her to utter, “I don’t want to go too fast.” Alas, neither does this opening instalment of a presumptive franchise, relying on the goodwill of established fans but offering little to entice the uninitiated to stick around.
