Divergent Series: Allegiant 2016 5 out of 10

Allegiant 2016  5 out of 10

Well I stuck around for the third installment in this franchise with the hopes that what was beyond the wall was worth the letdown that the second movie in the franchise was.   What was beyond the wall wasn't worth the wait after all.

The plot  for this third installment was just bland and uninteresting. 

The character played by Miles Teller has become as predictable as Mr. Smith from Lost in Space, no reasonable person would trust this guy or include him in any adventure.   The movie had some good moments. The chase to get beyond the wall was visually interesting -but once they make it to the other side the plot ground to a halt and the story became predictable and tired.   It is almost like the characters that we grew to love in the first film as complex characters have become stupid and two dimensional.  It is no wonder the franchise didn't make it to its final installment in the theaters.   The Producers made the mistake of trying to turn one book into two films to squeeze as much money out of the franchise as possible and instead basically killed it.    The final film (if it is made at all) will be a TV movie.   That means the budget for the finale will have a TV movie budget and is sure to disappoint the fans of the franchise.    At this point I've lost interest in this story the same way Catching Fire killed the Hunger Games franchise for me.  I probably won't even bother with the  TV Movie finale.

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Insurgent 2015 6 out of 10 (Divergent Series)

Insurgent   2015 6 out of 10

I was a little disappointed and underwhelmed by Insurgent, which is the 2^nd film in the now troubled Divergent franchise. 

I have heard that the third film is actually pretty good…..so it is unfortunate that it disappointed at the box office.  I believe it may have been the lackluster second film that lead the franchise to basically get killed before its final chapter.  The producers want to do the final film as a TV movie, but the lead actress  Shailene Woodley is not onboard with this idea and says that isn’t what she signed up for  The franchise sits in the uncomfortable situation of possibly not getting a conclusion at all.

The first film in the series was actually really good.  I actually enjoyed it more than The Hunger Games which this book series was brought to the big screen to hopefully ride the coat tails of.  Unforunately this second installment (like Catching Fire) disappointed.   I think the problem is that it is basically a second act of a 4 part story.   The acting in the film is okay –but the plot is just not as interesting as the first film.  The story of this second film was such a departure from the first story and just didn't feel like a worthy sequel.  The plot basically has the main character running from the authority figures from the first film for half the movie and then giving herself up to try and do some test for them in the second half.  There were a few good action sequences in the virtual environment --but not enough to hold my attention. 

The film has a satisfying end that moves the story along and opens things up for the third film…but the journey to the end just fell flat.   The same thing happened for me with The Hunger Games series,  although after Catching Fire I gave up on that franchise. The Divergent series  looks like it is going to an interesting enough place that I'll probably give the third film a chance.

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