The Divergent Series: Allegiant

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, & Jeff Daniels

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

If you've never read a book in the Divergent series, you may have actually liked this film, but as someone who read the series, and thought that Allegiant was the best book of that series, I am disgusted by what Hollywood turned in into. Entire storylines and major themes are just ripped out of the story, not to mention character mysteriously vanished without explanation, and where did all this technology come from? The bureau is supposed to be this weakly funded entity, not the premier power in the outside world, the whole thing just made me sick. After the first ten minutes, the film greatly diverges from the book, in a way that is incomprehensible to those who read it. The story, which is the final book but not the final film, takes place as people are racing to leave the city and are stopped by the factionless. Tris (Shailene Woodley) and her group knows that they must find out what is on the other side of the wall and launch a daring escape, which was far more difficult than portrayed in film. When they get outside the wall, the group finds out what the world is like outside of Chicago, and it's like nothing they could have ever imagined, and it's nothing like Veronica Roth described it in the book. I understand that Hollywood needs to fit entire novels into two hour films and inevitably somethings just won't make the cut, but what's missing here are major chunks of the story. Maybe they are saving it for Ascendant, which is due out a year from now, but even then they would be so out of order, that the film series just wouldn't make any sense. If you're a fan of the series, you really need to read the books. Allegiant might be one of the best stories you've ever read and when you see what Hollywood did to it, you'll be as pissed off as I am.