The Divergent Series: Allegiant
Hege Vincelette
After a daring but not terribly exciting escape, Tris discovers that Chicago's residents were actually lab rats that a local council leader named David (Jeff Daniels) dreamed up in order to see if a genetically pure individual could be produced "organically" in the wilderness. Being divergent means that Tris is such a person and a sign that there's hope for humanity after all.
I won't offer the details of their evil scheme nor will I reveal the various bits of exposition dump we get this time around. If you've read the books, you already know, and if you're coming in fresh, I have no desire to spoil the "fun." Besides, I'm not sure that I entirely understood it. All you need to know is that, as occured on too many seasons of Lost, the would-be saviors are totally not saviors after all. Tris is selected for personal sessions with Jeff Daniels, but the picture never really decides what she has to offer or what her special divergent powers can do for said bureau. The eventual climactic conflict seems arbitrarily inserted in order to give the film something resembling urgency.
But to be perfectly honest, the intended conspiracy plot grounding 'The Divergent Series: Allegiant' is a convoluted series of pseudoscience and faux moral controversies that ultimate make the entire franchise outrageously ludicrous. Director Robert Schwentke returns to helm this sci-fi post-apocalyptic vision for younger audiences with some moderately feeble success, fixing some of the problems of the film's predecessors by injecting it with better and more engaging action sequences. Much of this is really thanks to the beautifully glossy photography of Florian Ballhaus, eye-catching production design by Alec Hammond and costume designer Marlene Stewart creating a realistic world that's as visually interesting as it is fantastically imaginative. But in spite of their frankly wasted efforts, the film is a joyless and soulless escapade, as if making up much of the BS nonsense while chugging along to a finish that literally feels as though it just stopped halfway into it. And from the looks of box-office returns and Lionsgate's decision to cut the final production's budget by half, even allegiant audiences are growing tired of the series.
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