Leading the box office sales its opening weekend of March 20, “Insurgent,” the second movie in the Divergent series, left BYU Hawaii students with mixed reviews about being engaged by the action, but disappointed in comparison to the book. Caleb Earnshaw, a junior studying business marketing from New Hampshire said, “It did a good job at keeping the audience entertained that they didn’t realize how long of a movie it was, but comparing it to what happened in the books was disappointing. Key action scenes were left out as well as key plot twists.”The first movie, “Divergent,” set the scene of a dystopian society of Chicago divided in five factions based on the virtues of a person. Tris (Shailene Woodley), the main character discovers she is divergent, meaning she doesn’t fit into one faction. Being a threat to the system, Tris and her love interest Four (Theo James) combat the faction called Erudite that plans to take over their society and destroy divergents. “Insurgent” begins with Tris and Four on the run from the leader of the Erudites, Jeanine (Kate Winslet). Trying to discover who their true allies are as well as the truth behind the mystery of what her parents were protecting, Tris and Four jump from fight to fight. Analise Arnold, a freshman from Kailua studying business who also read the books, had mixed feelings about the movie. “I liked the girl-power theme. If you noticed, the majority of the leaders were female and the lead role was a scrawny girl that kicked butt, so it was a solid message to all the women of the world. I didn't like how cheesy it was. The overall theme of being an enemy of yourself was portrayed really poorly. It was just too much shoving of a social message down your throat about loving yourself.” Peri Cook, a freshman from Arizona studying graphic design, said she only read the first book, but enjoyed the movie. “I would say that it definitely topped Hunger Games in the category of movies about dystopian societies!” She said her friend hadn’t seen “Divergent” when she went to see it, but told her that it wasn't hard to understand because they did a good job making the storyline very clear, “unlike some movies that they turn into books.”Alex Krohnfeldt, a senior from California studying EXS, said, “I really liked the movie! I didn't read the books so I didn't have any biased feelings going into it. I liked how it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I wasn't sure what was going to happen and was experiencing slight anxiety throughout the movie because I never knew if they were safe or were going to undergo another attack. It was a little cheesy but it's kind of impossible to have a love story and it not be cheesy. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes the action-adventure-Hunger-Games-type feel.”According to RottenTomatoes.com, “Insurgent” grossed $52.3 million its opening weekend. The rating from the critics was 33 percent, whereas the audience rating was higher at 69 percent.Uploaded April 2, 2015
Writer: Mackenzie McLeod
