The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016)

[CJohn]

Discuss it

[CJohn]

One of the biggest troll jobs in history. The movie covers the whole book. There is no Part 1/Part 2 here. Lionsgate didn't wanted to admit this would be the last one and they would cancel the Part 2 so they changed the titles. If Ascendant ever exists, which is possible since they leave a small cliffhanger in the last second, it will be all made up. The story of the books is over. And I liked it. If you liked the last two you will enjoy this one. If you didn't, stay away.

[Webslinger]

While not outright terrible, Allegiant is a clear step down from its predecessors. Whereas those films at least had enough going for them to register as guilty pleasures with some halfway-decent ideas, this one is a dull affair in which the urgency feels lessened despite the fact that the stakes have (theoretically) been raised. publicenemy#1 hit nail on the head with his comment that this cast deserves a better movie. Shailene Woodley in particular needs the opportunity to break free from this franchise. She was excellent in The Descendants and The Fault in Our Stars, and she has done her best to elevate a thin character throughout the duration of this franchise; however, with how little development Tris gets in this installment, Woodley isn't left with much to do besides go through the motions. It's kind of startling how little chemistry she has with Theo James, but I'm also willing to chalk that lack of a spark up to how minimally the script even bothers to acknowledge that they're supposed to be in love with each other. Naomi Watts tries to bring shades of moral conflict to her character, but it's a decision that doesn't gel with the script's attempt to make her take the place of Kate Winslet's villain from the last two films; that being said, she's still better than Jeff Daniels, who is less intimidating as a full-on villain in this film than he was as the stern-but-totally-well-meaning NASA director in The Martian (he did provide my single biggest laugh in the entire film, though; see after the grade). Although neither of the first two films was a masterpiece of the dystopian YA subgenre and this one does have a few pulse-raising moments, the lack of conviction that pervades so much of the running time causes Allegiant - and, by extension, its franchise - to sputter out well short of the finish line.

 

C

That being said...

1.) I've heard that it's just how the character is written in the source material, but I love how Miles Teller simply appears not to care in the slightest about anything that's happening around him and act like an overly smarmy douche. Even if he truly is in character, I can't help but feel like it's a not-so-subtle indicator that he feels this thing is beneath him, so he's going to at least have some fun with it.

 

2.) I saw it in Providence, so any and all mentions of the film's city of Providence led to scattered snickering throughout the auditorium. The best part, though, was when Jeff Daniels said that he would be taking Woodley to Providence. "Oh," I thought, "Are they going to take the Mutt Cutts van?"

[DAJK]

I'm legit confused when some people say this was a step down from the predecessors. While overall the film is just decent, it was a big step up from Insurgent for sure, and it actually set up a much bigger world this time in that, I could root for what was going on in Chicago, but at the same time, there's also a lot of potential for storytelling in areas such as "Providence".

[Water Bottle]

The best movie of the series? Yeah, it is. Too bad the cliff-hanger will be there to leave us hanging for all of eternity....unless they make the fourth film for Netflix or something.

 

B+

[Kalo]

On 3/9/2016 at 11:11 AM, CJohn said:

The movie covers the whole book.

 

Doesn't Trish die in the end of Allegiant? does she die in the end of this??

[CJohn]

16 minutes ago, Kalo said:

 

Doesn't Trish die in the end of Allegiant? does she die in the end of this??

They changed that. The events that lead to her death are still there (the attack on Chicago with the memory serum). 

[darkelf]

Well this was amazing  At one moment I actually thought that it could be the best in the series and for the first time in the long history of this glorious franchise not the worst film of the year but that stupid-ass last half hour had to change that. I honestly have to say that I love this franchise. Make that TV show Lionsgate, I'll watch every fucking second of it.

 

2/10

 

Ah, who knows, maybe we do get something even worse by the end of the year.

[filmlover]

Caught this on HBO. A disastrous sequel in which all of the actors look eager to get away, to a series that never overcame its status of being a poor man's Hunger Games (and will now remain unfinished). D

[dxmatrixdt]

did a rewatch on demand.    the production budget was at its highest for this episode, and the world they create shows it.  Allegiant lacks the thrill with the lucid visual effects like they had in Insurgent, but the expansive storytelling kept me entertained.  I would rate them all about the same.