Allegiant

The Divergent book series is one that I enjoyed, but don't really remember all too much.

It sits rightfully behind some other YA series that I've read and to me, the films seem to be following in the footsteps of their paperback brethren.

The third book in the series, Allegiant, divided fans dramatically...many hating it and calling it a complete catastrophe. I certainly had my qualms with it as I remember it being fairly disjointed and it struggled to find a core purpose, but it also had one dramatic moment that, out of all the Divergent series, has stayed with me the longest. I shall not spoil it here, but it was a bold move and I applaud the author for her dedication to seeing it through even when the rest of the book might have had room for improvement.

Though I can't say I was surprised that Hollywood execs decided to split Allegiant into two films, I can say I was disappointed. Out of many of the "Part I, Part II" films we've milked these past few years, I anticipated that this would be one of the most unnecessary by far.

And it was. Unfortunately for the film however, where I think it could have had a great end to the series with a single film, it dawdles and lollygags through some of the plot in the novel, resulting in a two hour film that could have been legitimately sixty minutes shorter. There are still some things to like about Allegiant, but its time management and organization is certainly not one of them.

It's interesting because that feels like it has become a bit of a common thread among YA film adaptations is that they try to make too much out of too little. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, and even The Divergent Series: Insurgent are all guilty of this to varying degrees, but you wonder if the meager box office opening for this film will be a sign to those deciding to split these books up into multiple films will think twice. Alas, probably not.

Wow those are sure some...ahem..."good?" special effects!

"Did you see me over here?
I was trying to hide..."

Allegiant's (the film) biggest problem is that it tried to be more than it was. All the typical things you either love and/or hate about YA adaptations are here so I don't necessarily think much of the script or acting or action is to blame. It's that it tries to elongate the process of telling its story so much that it becomes painfully obvious how much they're taking their damn sweet time. Now that a few hours have passed since I've seen it, it's increasingly obvious as I make a high-level bullet point list of the plot in my head. On paper, I achieve maybe 4-5 different bullets and it's certainly not enough to build an entire move upon. The previous film at least had some forward momentum there at the end as things changed pretty dramatically, but it too could be faulted for being excessively longer than it needed to be. The way I look at it, Allegiant is really best analyzed in two parts: everything that happens in Chicago, and everything that happens on the other side of the wall.

Personally, I loved most of the stuff happened on the other side of the wall. Its sci-fi theories were interesting and it helps to basically blow up the mythology of the series to much grander than it ever has been. Jeff Daniels, new to this franchise, plays the director, David, and it seems like he's having fun with it, even if you know he thinks the science spewing out of his mouth is ridiculous. Either way, I enjoyed the new landscape that was established as it really gives the series that "bigger purpose" reason for existence that I think it desperately needed. Unfortunately, that means that just about everything in Chicago, where the factions/groups are in turmoil, is really boring. What's worse is that a lot of it comes across as superfluous because it all doesn't truly matter until the end anyway. The film keeps "checking in" with Chicago so that we know it's still about to be an all out war when in the end, it all gets handled anyway. Along the way on both sides there are many scenes that are extended past their necessity or not needed at all and when you tie those in to a plot which leaves the movie not all that different from start to finish, I find it hard to justify this being a two film split up. Especially when I already know what happens...I think a single film could have been the series' best one for the last book.


Now that's more like it!
Wait. Why are we on Mars?

Although I may have found the overall product very "meh", there were some things I came away from it liking, possibly even loving. For starters, the minimal action in the film was done well and Four (Theo James) really gets to shine in this regard, having some badass fight scenes. Along with all the new technology on the other side of the wall, "drone warfare" is introduced where each soldier has three private drones to assist them. The film has some cool scenes with these little guys but I could not stop thinking about how awesome a videogame with this technology/idea would be. I also still really appreciate the cast that this film series was able to lock down. Shailene Woodley is great in everything she's in, Theo James does better in this installment than previous ones, Jeff Daniels is a welcome addition, and Miles Teller is still fun as the wise cracking Peter. Lastly, and granted it's only March, but I adored the original score. It was far better than a film this average had any right to be, but it was one I could see myself listening to certain tracks in my free time.

I don't think Allegiant necessarily suffers from being a bad movie, I just think it suffers from being an incomplete one, especially when it has no need to be. In a time where Hollywood is all about extending franchises as long as possible, this film proves as a perfect example of what happens when you tamper too much with trying to over-milk the cow. Those of us along for the ride all wanted to see how it wrapped up, but now we have to wait even longer for the latter half of a fairly short book.

Yay?

CONS:

• A film adaptation of a book that did not need to be split up into two parts. Not much changes from beginning to end and the plot that was covered could have been successfully fit into a 60 minute time period
• Some overly extended scenes and some useless ones
• Although many of the special effects are great, some of them are God-awful, especially whenever green-screen is used
• Almost everything that happens in Chicago is far less interesting (and thus, entertaining) than what happens on the other side of the wall. Not to mention the male "villain" in Chicago is a brat
• Fairly predictable, hence why I really think it would have been a better decision to incorporate the rest of the book into the fold

PROS:

• Still sports a really impressive cast of young actors and actresses. Jeff Daniels is a welcomed addition
• Some of the special effects are great
• Four gets to be a badass
• "Drone warfare"
• I found the expanded mythology and world to be very interesting and liked those parts of the film. If you're someone who hated the third book, I imagine these will be the parts you hate
• Surprisingly great original score

Rath's Review Score: 5.5/10