Divergent [3]: Allegiant (2016) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline: The person you became with her is worth being.

In this exciting penultimate film in The Divergent Series, Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) lead a team of rebels in a daring escape over the city wall - into a strange new world where they face a threat more dangerous than they ever imagined. Together, Tris and Four wage a furious battle for survival, fighting not only for their factions and loved ones, but for the future of an entire city in this dynamic, action-packed adventure.

Storyline: After the earth-shattering revelations of INSURGENT, Tris must escape with Four and go beyond the wall enclosing Chicago. For the first time ever, they will leave the only city and family they have ever known. Once outside, old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless with the revelation of shocking new truths. Tris and Four must quickly decide who they can trust as a ruthless battle ignites beyond the walls of Chicago which threatens all of humanity. In order to survive, Tris will be forced to make impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love. Written by mapbryan

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, July 1, 2016 Is the so-called "young adult trilogy" phase coming to an end? It may seem so, if for no other reason than filmmakers keep attempting to extend supposed trilogies into quadrilogies (perhaps more accurately termed a tetralogy), with the Divergent series being just the latest example (and, considering its increasingly lackluster box office performance, perhaps one of the last). As I mentioned in our The Maze Runner 4K Blu-ray review, that franchise's recent shutdown due to star Dylan O'Brien's on set injury doesn't augur particularly well for that series, but even without any similar near tragedy visiting the working environment of Divergent: Allegiant, this third entry is an often tired and frustrating experience, one that is in a way similar to another "trilogy"'s third entry, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, a film that ended up feeling like nothing much better than a long shaggy dog story that was simply a gambit to get the characters (and the audience) to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. Unfortunately, Divergent: Allegiant has little of even the somewhat questionably intermittent pleasures that Mockingjay Part 1 afforded, and it's probably no surprise for some to hear that in the wake of the critical drubbing Divergent: Allegiant took during its theatrical exhibition and its less than thrilling ticket sales that the proposed fourth film in this ostensible "trilogy" has been dramatically scaled back.

For those wanting a "refresher course" on the story of Divergent so far, more information is available by clicking on the following review: Divergent [1] & Divergent [2]: Insurgent

Note: If you have not seen the previous two films in the Divergent series, you're encouraged to skip the rest of the review so that you won't expose yourself to any potential spoilers.

In the wake of the demise of Jeanine (Kate Winslet in the previous films), it would seem that a "happily ever after" is within reach not just for Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James), but for all so-called "divergents" and even the run of the mill members of the various (former?) factions. Of course, that would mean that this franchise would indeed be a trilogy, with just a few dangling plot threads to weave together before the final credits. Instead, an increasingly melodramatic series of events intervenes, starting with one of the film's better sequences, one which details the fraying relationships between the factions and the perhaps duplicitous aims of Jeanine's ostensible replacement, Evelyn (Naomi Watts). The execution of a supposed "traitor" makes it quite clear that despite "the tyrant" supposedly being overthrown, tyranny is a transferable behavior.

There's already a bit of illogic at play, with Evelyn closing "the gate" which would allow Chicagoans the ability to get out into whatever is left of the big, wide world. That of course sets up a plot conceit that is awfully reminiscent of The Maze Runner, with Tris and her cohorts struggling to get through (or in this case, over) a labyrinth to discover what's "out there". It's at least to the film's credit that the group (or at least most of it) does escape, only (of course) to find itself more or less prisoners again at the (yep, labyrinthine) Bureau of Genetic Welfare, where Tris begins interacting with a (yep, duplicitous) guy named David (Jeff Daniels).

Allegiant struggles mightily to come up with anything new to say in the increasingly repetitive dystopian future young adult subgenre, and in fact large swaths of this film seem to have been lifted whole cloth not just from the aforementioned Maze Runner franchise, but the "big kahuna" in this particular sweepstakes, The Hunger Games 4-Film Complete Collection. Though pretty tired and predictable from a plotting standpoint, Allegiant is buoyed by a rather bracing production design and some well done visual effects, but those aspects tend to be window dressing attempting to prettify a rather dull center.

As mentioned above, one of the talking heads in one of the supplements on this disc makes the unfortunate decision to describe "other" attempts to split one book into two films as leaving a feeling of "treading water" in the first film, something that is more or less exactly what Allegiant often seems to be doing. Fans of the film will probably be willing to "get through" this one in order to finally arrive at the big finish, but that's an awfully low bar to be setting for a franchise that started with such decent promise. The film is a visual and sonic feast, however, and that may help some viewers and listeners to cut it a bit of slack. Technical merits are excellent for those considering a purchase.

[CSW] -3.2- At least in this the third of four Divergent films the plot never cause me to suspend-my-disbelief as the first two did, now with that said, I think this reviewer said it better than I could:
Tagline: "What makes us different ties us together." This is the third of four movies in the "Divergent" franchise...like the "Harry Potter" and "Hunger Games" franchises, two movies are being adapted from the final book in the series. No doubt the Veronica Roth novel, "Allegiant" - though I haven't read it as yet - is as good as the first two novels. If it is this movie - while it is entertaining and worth seeing - does not measure up as it is a rather pedestrian - read average - sci/fi actioner. That average rating is given in spite of another fine performance by Shailene Woodley as the divergent protagonist, Tris; and excellent outings from Theo James as Four and Naomi Watts as Evelyn. In this film, as dystopian Chicago descends into faction war again, Tris and Four along with Tris' brother, Caleb (Ansel Elgort) Christina (Zoe Kravitz) and the chameleon-like Peter (Miles Teller) cross over the outer wall to explore what lies beyond. They meet up with a superior, controlling civilization, headed up by David (Jeff Daniels) who knows all about Tris and Four and the faction wars...maybe too much. That will set the stage, but be forewarned that the plot becomes a bit muddled from here on out. As with the first two films, the digital special effects are stunning and though I am disappointed in the story, there is enough here to give the film a recommendation.
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[V4.5-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box 10/10.


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