Book-to-Movie: Divergent

This week we showed the movie "Divergent" here at the library.  The books upon which this movie was based, written by Veronica Roth, have been hugely popular - so much so that the multiple copies of the book that my library owns are always checked out, with an incredibly long hold list that ensures that we won't be seeing the book anytime soon.  It's no surprise that, in a movie market that is happy to turn successful YA books into film, this series was quickly optioned and adapted to the big screen by Summit Entertainment.  The film was released in theaters in March 2014 and came out on DVD and BluRay on August 5.

Our showing of the film here at the library was quite successful.  Thirty people attended this program and, just as when we showed "The Hunger Games" back in 2012, I was impressed at the number of adults - several parents and a few stand-alone adults - who were interested in seeing this movie with the teens.  It is exciting to see more opportunities for intergenerational programming here at the library thanks to the growing cross-appeal of YA books and movies.

Clearly, the movie is popular.  But was it actually any good?

In my humble opinion, the answer to that question is highly debatable.

When it comes to the movie's ability to translate what happens in the book onto the big screen, I would say that it did quite well.  As I was watching the movie I could think of only one event from the book that was left out of the movie, and though this scene was powerful in the book, I completely understand why this cut was made (time, lack of lasting impact on the series).  As far as my memory is concerned, watching the movie was just like reading the book when it comes to plot. This should please most fans of the book immensely.

There is actually very little significantly wrong with the film.  Fights are well choreographed.  Kate Winslet is significantly villainous as Jeanine Mathews.  I truly enjoyed being able to see the different factions and how each one is symbolized by a different color scheme and sense of design.  Yet this movie just didn't "wow" me.  It was fine.  Maybe I'm just a bit tired of the genre, but I couldn't help but feel that I'd heard this story before, only told better.

My biggest complaint will probably spark some debate since most critics seem to feel differently than I did:  I just didn't care for Shailene Woodley as Tris.  In both the book and in the movie, Four comments that fear doesn't shut Tris down; it instead wakes her up.  I frankly never really saw Tris wake up in this movie.  I saw her jump off of trains and get into fights and go through all of the brave motions she is supposed to.  But I never saw that spark in her eyes, that moment of desperation that drives her to be brave and to enjoy her new freedom.

Still, even if the movie isn't perfect, it is reasonably entertaining.  And since it does such a good job of portraying the plot of the book I'm willing to bet that the majority of fans will be satisfied.

Overall Quality of the Film:  C+
Overall Faithfulness to the Book:  A