Divergent, released in 2014. Directed by Neil Burger. Starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Kate Winslet.
*cracks knuckles*
Here we go.
As I'm sure it's apparent, I like both books and movies. A lot. Well, I read Divergent by Veronica Roth and enjoyed it. (The rest of the series kinda goes downhill....but that's another blog post.) And I'm also pretty sure you guys are aware of how HARD it is to pull off a decent book-to-movie adaptation.
I really hope none of you loved this movie, cuz I'm about to break it all apart.
First: casting. I'm not exaggerating when I say I only enjoyed ONE of the casting choices, and I didn't even really enjoy it!
Shailene Woodley (Tris) - hate her. So boring.
Theo James (Four/Tobias) - GREAT ACTOR, so I didn't mind him. BUT - he's like 30! And he looks 30! So the whole time I'm thinking, why did they cast a 30 year old to play an 18 year old??
Ashley Judd (Natalie) - *snore*
Jai Courtney (Eric) - Bro, please stop going to the gym for neck workouts.
And the list continues. It probably doesn't help that it was hard for me to connect to these characters even in the book. They're kind of flat and I end up just not caring about them.
Next: story. I don't even understand why some of the plot points were completely changed around or even omitted. I don't wanna sit on this too long for fear of spoilers and/or making myself annoyed.
Now, let me tell you the positives.
They do have beautiful special effects, and music seems to fit quite nicely.
It really wasn't so bad, as a standalone movie. But that's why it's so hard to judge it fairly. It was made to be an adaptation, and you already have millions of fans of this series just waiting for you to screw it up.
And you did.
:(
~ Victoria
*cracks knuckles*
Here we go.
As I'm sure it's apparent, I like both books and movies. A lot. Well, I read Divergent by Veronica Roth and enjoyed it. (The rest of the series kinda goes downhill....but that's another blog post.) And I'm also pretty sure you guys are aware of how HARD it is to pull off a decent book-to-movie adaptation.
I really hope none of you loved this movie, cuz I'm about to break it all apart.
First: casting. I'm not exaggerating when I say I only enjoyed ONE of the casting choices, and I didn't even really enjoy it!
Shailene Woodley (Tris) - hate her. So boring.
Theo James (Four/Tobias) - GREAT ACTOR, so I didn't mind him. BUT - he's like 30! And he looks 30! So the whole time I'm thinking, why did they cast a 30 year old to play an 18 year old??
Ashley Judd (Natalie) - *snore*
Jai Courtney (Eric) - Bro, please stop going to the gym for neck workouts.
And the list continues. It probably doesn't help that it was hard for me to connect to these characters even in the book. They're kind of flat and I end up just not caring about them.
Next: story. I don't even understand why some of the plot points were completely changed around or even omitted. I don't wanna sit on this too long for fear of spoilers and/or making myself annoyed.
Now, let me tell you the positives.
They do have beautiful special effects, and music seems to fit quite nicely.
It really wasn't so bad, as a standalone movie. But that's why it's so hard to judge it fairly. It was made to be an adaptation, and you already have millions of fans of this series just waiting for you to screw it up.
And you did.
:(
~ Victoria