10 Overlooked Positives Of Divisive Upcoming Movies

8. Shailene Woodley Is A Captivating Presence - The Divergent Series: Insurgent

Why The Film Is Questionable: To call Divergent a rip-off of The Hunger Games is a disservice to other blatant imitations that at least try to provide something original. Veronica Roth's source novels were clearly capitalising on the success of Suzanne Collins' series, only with even more abstract societal divisions and a more contrived reasoning why teenagers should be thrown into the action. Likewise, Tris' big screen adaptation is built heavily on Katniss', with distributor Lionsgate simply repeating everything that made their first Young Adult series such a hit. Unlike The Hunger Games, however, because this is a more cynical cash-in, there's seemingly nothing here for non-fans. The Overlooked Positive: One of the biggest parallels between the two franchises in their journey to the big screen is the hinging of the whole enterprise on the screen presence of an up-and-coming actress made big by Oscar-noticed indies. And there's no complaint on that aspect - Shailene Woodley is a captivating lead that manages to elevate the shaky material to something distinctly human (something co-stars like Jai Courtney seem incapable of). Of course, one solid performance isn't enough to make a whole enterprise work, but it makes Divergent at the very least something worth your time.