The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016)

"The Divergent Series: Allegiant" stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller, and Jeff Daniels. Released on March 18, 2016, the film has Tris and Four traveling beyond the wall and discovering secrets about their existence.

The film is directed by Robert Schwentke, who also directed films such as The Time Traveler's Wife, RED, and R.I.P.D. It is based on the novel of the same name by Veronica Roth and serves as the third installment of the Divergent franchise. Again, I have not read any of the Divergent books, but I did find the first film interesting. Schwentke returns to the director's chair for this installment after directing Insurgent back in 2015, which I thought was a step down from Divergent, but still an OK film. Now you're probably wondering, "Well gee, if you didn't like Insurgent that much, then why did you see this one?" Because a) I'm a film critic, and b) I was curious to see what happens next. All I can say about this installment is that it still has its problems from the last film, but I don't think it was that bad.

Most of the main cast reprised their roles for the third time, such as Woodley as Tris and James as Four, and like its predecessors, their performances weren't that special. They're just fine. Woodley was fine, James was good-looking, but fine, Miles Teller was fine as Peter, even Octavia Spencer was fine in her role as Johanna. Everybody else was…ehhhh, OK. The only actor that I think pulled off a decent performance was Jeff Daniels as David. This guy did a nice job with some of his movies like The Martian, and I'm surprised that he didn't sink that low into the film's typical young-adult formula. The visual effects were pretty impressive in terms of the film's futuristic setting, even though there were a couple of moments where they were noticeable. The action sequences, compared to Insurgent, weren't that very special, in my opinion. Although entertaining to look at, they don't seem to have that much intensity, but that's just me. The story did a decent job at exploring the history of the society the characters live in and its themes, but in terms of the emotional depth and screenplay, I felt that it could've been a lot stronger, especially since it's based on the final book of the Divergent trilogy.
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Overall, "Allegiant" offers some fine performances and its visual splendor, but like its predecessor, there's nothing really that special about it. The young-adult formula was tired out, there's little to no emotional depth, and the story was pretty weak and predictable. The history of the society was interesting, but that's about it. Yes, this film is for a Divergent fan base, but based on what I saw, I don't think it will fit well for those who are outside of that group. If you're a fan of the books, you might like this installment. If not, then I would say it's worth watching once on television. If you like the film, then that's great. More power to you. To me, I'm just not feeling it.

C-