Insurgent Movie: Pros and Cons

Theo James, Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley

Insurgent is hardly a great movie to watch, but I have recently begun a habit of trying to find even the smallest redeeming qualities a movie may have. Insurgent is the sequel to Divergent, based on a series of books where mankind has been reduced to a system of factions, which are now in a state of anarchy following a blooming power struggle. So here goes. What are Insurgent's pros and cons?

Pros

Special Effects 

Insurgent’s production budget is put at an estimated $110mn, which is slightly under the figures reported for the latest Hunger Games movies. Catching Fire’s budget was a reported $130mn while Mockingjay Part 1 had $125mn. The spending on Insurgent is less, but there doesn’t seem to have been a major compromise in the visuals. In fact, they stand up extremely well.

There are visual simulations that take place in Tris’ (main character played by Shailene Woodley) head, and they are done very craftily.

Acting Heavyweights - Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts 

That’s 2 Oscar winners and 1 Oscar nominee. Each actress plays a leading figure in the film representing a different faction, bringing different shades of morality, or the lack thereof, to the movie. they are highly qualified to pull the job off and they do. The only problem is that we aren’t really invested in their well-being or success, since the story isn’t told from the viewpoints. At the end of the day, you won’t care much about these characters, but you can definitely appreciate them in the scenes there in. Kate Winslet has the most to do as the primary antagonist established in the first movie, and she doesn’t fail here.

FYI -  I’ll make any kind of excuse to see Naomi Watts in a movie, no matter how bad it is.

Miles Teller

I’m not a major fan of Miles Teller, but his recent performances have helped me look at him in a more positive light. From the trailers I’ve seen of him in the rebooted Fantastic Four, and from what I saw in Insurgent, he has a certain comedic flair. It’s his character Peter that provides the much needed shocks and jolts to the movie’s plot, and his scenes and interactions with the other characters create some essential humor to mitigate the melodrama.

Select Shocking Scenes

While I will talk about the pacing issues of the movie, I will note that slowing the movie down to play up emotion rather than action did produce some amazing scenes and shots. There are 2 specific instances that pop to my mind when I think of great scenes that were surprisingly bold. Surprisingly bold for a young adult movie. Those scenes have the potential to be in a Tarantino movie if there was blood and guts spilled. But I won’t spoil it any more.

Cons

Pacing

The movie suffers from the flaws that most middle installments face. The action seems highly mitigated to save the best for the final movie. That problem faced Mockingjay Part 1 and also Deathly Hallows Part 1. Instead, the movie chooses to emphasize emotional conflict, mainly by throwing Tris and Four to confront both friends and foes. That doesn’t work too well given how little we know of the other characters, and playing up emotional tension requires a bit more screen time for the supporting actors. I was disappointed that Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer didn’t get more to do throughout the movie.

The Ending

I’ve noticed patterns or trends in recent dystopian films where it seems as if certain ideas are being recycled. The ending of Insurgent is blatantly similar to that of Maze Runner in its premise. Since Maze Runner was published in 2009 and Divergent in 2011, it looks like Veronica Roth did some borrowing. This seems more likely when you realize that James Dashner started writing Maze Runner in 2005.

That being said, it could be interesting to the audience to see how both franchises lead off with a similar idea, at least to those people who haven’t read the book. From what I hear, though, the movie has departed significantly from the books.



So then, assess the pros and cons and hopefully come to a decision to watch the movie, or avoid it.