Movie Review: Divergent

Divergent
Directed by: Neil Burger.
Written by: Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor based on the book by Veronica Roth.
Starring: Shailene Woodley (Tris), Theo James (Four), Ashley Judd (Natalie), Jai Courtney (Eric), Ray Stevenson (Marcus), Zoë Kravitz (Christina), Miles Teller (Peter), Tony Goldwyn (Andrew), Ansel Elgort (Caleb), Maggie Q  (Tori), Mekhi Phifer (Max), Kate Winslet (Jeanine), Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Will), Christian Madsen (Al), Amy Newbold (Molly), Ben Lamb (Edward).

I read the Divergent series of books, even though the first one wasn’t very good, the second one was worse and the third book was downright awful. I understand the appeal of the books – and the movie – especially to teenage girls who have to be sick of playing secondary roles in male stories all the time. But shouldn’t they want something more intelligent that Divergent? A dystopian future that at least makes some sort of sense, which this one never really does? The best thing about the movie version of Divergent is Shailene Woodley’s performance as Tris – the heroine – who plays a nearly impossible role as good as it can be played. But overall, the movie left me rolling my eyes more than anything else. Teenage girls deserve better than this.

The story takes place in a future version of Chicago. Apparently the rest of the world has been wiped out, and the founders of this new society have split the survivors into different factions – Erudites, who believe in knowledge, Candor who believe in truth, the Dauntless who believe in bravery and the Abnegation, who believe in selflessness. Everyone snugly fits into one faction – and if you don’t, you end up factionless – rejected by society and your own family. When you turn 16, you get to choose your faction. Most stick to the ones they are born into – but not all. They go through a test in the days leading up to the choosing – which is supposed to tell you where to go. Tris, who isn’t sure what she should choose, is counting on the test. Then she gets her surprising result. She’s none of them. She’s divergent. Her tester, Tori (Maggie Q) tells her not to tell anyone. If they find out, she’s doomed. She ends up choosing Dauntless, but is scared of being outed. Her instructor, Four (Theo James) seems to hate her – but won’t stop looking at her, so we all know what that means.

In terms of an adaptation of the novel, the movie pretty much dispenses of everything that isn’t related to Tris and Four – fairly major characters in the book are barely a presence in the movie, meaning their various betrayals and storylines to lack any real emotional impact. Still, the movie is still two hours and twenty minutes – and feels longer – so something had to go. They didn’t want to lose the swoon worthy teen romance, and need the various tests Tris has to endure to become a Dauntless – something that isn’t guaranteed like she thought it would be.

Woodley is good as Tris – who is an outsider from the start, as the rest of the factions of don’t much like Abnegation, especially Dauntless, and then she has to try and fit in with them. Woodley is a talented actress – she proved that in The Descendants and The Spectacular Now, and she has been far better than the two movies she has made this year – this, and The Fault in Our Stars. James is a little bit of a blank slate as Four – he doesn’t have much personality other than his smoldering good looks, and the movie doesn’t require him to do anything else. Most of the rest of the cast is just as forgettable – save for Kate Winslet, as the villain, who is the only character given more scenes than they had in the book – presumably because she’s Kate Winslet.

 
When Twilight became an unexpectedly huge hit, you knew Hollywood was going to raid other Young Adult series looking to replicate that success. It’s been worth it in films like the first two installments of The Hunger Games – legitimately good movies, based on legitimately good books – but for the most part, we have been served forgettable movie after forgettable movie. Divergent is no different. It’s a hit now – and the next two (or three) movies will be hits as well – but they will eventually be forgotten when the target audience grows up a little and realizes how silly the books and movies are. At least, I hope so.

Movie Review: Limitless

Limitless ** ½
Directed by: Neil Burger.
Written by: Leslie Dixon based on the novel by Alan Glynn.
Starring: Bradley Cooper (Eddie Morra), Robert De Niro (Carl Van Loon), Abbie Cornish (Lindy), Andrew Howard (Gennady), Anna Friel (Melissa), Johnny Whitworth (Vernon).

We have been told for years now that human beings only use about 20% of their brain power. The rest of it remains inaccessible to us. But what if there was a pill that allowed you to increase that brain power, so that you can use that 100%? Would you take it? How could you not. That is what Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is facing in Limitless, a thriller with an intriguing idea, that never quite pulls it all together. He is a failed novelist, living one step above homelessness in New York, whose girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) has left him, and really as nothing going on in his life. But then an old acquaintance comes to him, and tells him he has this new pill, FDA approved, just waiting to go on the market which will help him access all that hidden brain power. He even gives him a free sample. The difference is immediate – he finishes his novel, but quickly sees that writing is only the tip of the iceberg of what he can do on the pills. He goes back to his friend, finds him murdered in his apartment – but also finds his huge stash of the new pills. It isn’t long before Eddie is making millions on the stock market, and starting to draw the attention of the big guys. But the drug has side effects, and they are getting worse.

Limitless has an intriguing idea for a movie, but forces it into a thriller plot that never really works. It seems to me that much of its running time is involved with setting up the story – and then just as things are starting to get interesting, the filmmakers decide they need to end the movie, and dive headlong into the closing action of the film, full of chase sequences, violence, and murder. That it is all wrapped up in an intriguing package by director Neil Burger (The Illusionist, the Edward Norton movie, not the animated French film), is really beside the point.

Perhaps the problem is with Bradley Cooper in the lead role. Cooper is an actor that I feel is in danger of becoming the next Matthew McConaughey (who was excellent in The Lincoln Lawyer this week, but really, that is the only decent work he has done in years). Cooper coasts on his charm and good looks, but never really gets under the skin of his characters. Early in the film, with long, stringy hair, Cooper is wholly unconvincing as a down on his luck loser. He just doesn’t have those notes in him. When he starts taking the drugs, and transforms himself, he is much better – but it remains a performance that is nearly skin deep. I never really liked Eddie Morra that much, because I think Cooper doesn’t make us like him, so I didn’t much care about his plight.

The supporting cast doesn’t help much either. I know that I am one of the only people in the world who thought that Robert DeNiro is brilliant in Stone last year, but I really do, and I hoped that the film might have signaled that DeNiro was going to start doing real roles again for the first time in years. But Limitless is much like most of his work in the last decade. He plays a Wall Street bigwig, but doesn’t really bring much to the role. Part of it is that his role is completely underwritten – there is very little to play here for DeNiro – but part of it is that DeNiro is simply going through the motions once again. Abbie Cornish is one of the most beautiful women in the world, as she has proven in films like Candy, Stop Loss and Bright Star that she has real acting talent – but here, much like DeNiro, she is not given much of a role to play, and simply seems to be going through the motions.

I’ve probably made Limitless sound a lot worse than it actually is. No, it’s not a good movie, but it is fairly intriguing and entertaining for much of its running time. It’s just that I kept thinking that the film was building to something more than it ever actually does. It has a fine premise behind it, but the filmmakers are content to do something wholly uninteresting with it. Too bad.