Movies By Cho: Insurgent
Now Showing: Insurgent
Starring: Kate Winslet, Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller
Scene after the Credits: No
Would I see this again: Meh, probably not
Notable Previews: Pixels, Pitch Perfect 2, Terminator Genisys
Bottom Line: Kate Winslet continues to kill Divergents for no good reason, and no one calls her out on her bullshit
Well, the end of this movie clears up some confusion I had regarding the Faction system, but I'm still left confused as to why anyone ever thought this was a good idea, or why no one ever calls out Jeanine (Kate Winslet) on her bullshit. Her premise, her entire raison d'etre for wiping out the Abnegation Faction in the last movie, and continuing to hunt Divergents in this one, is that Divergents have caused the Faction System to fail, and the only way to "fix society" is to slaughter all Divergents. BUT, never is it shown that this is true: in fact, in the first movie everything appeared to be just fine until Jeanine somehow convinced the leaders of Dauntless to go with her plan to mind control all of the Dauntless Faction, and use them to slaughter the Abnegation Faction.
Now, Martial Law had been declared, and though the mind control device has been destroyed, it appears a large number of Dauntless have now willingly allied themselves with Jeanine's Erudite Faction to take control of the city. Whether it's because they believe her lies that the Divergents were responsible for the attack, or they're just weak-willed savages who play along because it allows them to be bullies, I have no clue.
There is a macguffin in play, one that is supposedly the reason for Jeanine's campaign, but after reading some reviews I find that this is not in the books, and instead is something that the movie makes up from nothing. And it's strange thing, that once its true purpose is revealed becomes even stranger: why does a thing that ultimately turns out to be GOOD for Divergents (and the city as a whole), which is the opposite what Jeanine thinks it does, KILL Divergents who fail to open it? (It can only be opened by Divergents, but those who are not sufficiently Divergent do not simply fail, they die in the process. How does that make any sense? That's like being murdered because you tried to open a door with the wrong key!)
Oh, and Jeanine herself turns out to be a failure in the Evil Genius role. As the leader of Erudite, she's supposed to be smart, and I guess that while her Intelligence stat might be 18, her Wisdom score is at 10 or less. She fails at the most simple of logic tests: DO NOT TRUST TURNCOATS. Once a traitor, always a traitor, and yet she allows two- TWO of Tris' former allies to not only have access to her after she captured, but are allowed to spend time ALONE with her! If you can't spot the misjudgment in those actions, you're just as blind as Jeanine.
I don't know what to say about this series, or even to completely understand what's going on, except that it just seems to be one woman's insane grab at power, while most of society seems content to let her do so?
I just don't know. As action movies go, it's kind of so-so; Shailene Woodley is not an action star, and is actually fairly wooden in her performance. She appears to have just 2 emotions on her face: blank or sad. If you liked the books or saw the first movie, you might want to see this to see how it works out, but waiting for a rental wouldn't be a bad thing.
Unrelated Note: Why does "Terminator Genisys" spell Genesis like that? Is that some alternate spelling I've just never seen before?
Starring: Kate Winslet, Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller
Scene after the Credits: No
Would I see this again: Meh, probably not
Notable Previews: Pixels, Pitch Perfect 2, Terminator Genisys
Bottom Line: Kate Winslet continues to kill Divergents for no good reason, and no one calls her out on her bullshit
Well, the end of this movie clears up some confusion I had regarding the Faction system, but I'm still left confused as to why anyone ever thought this was a good idea, or why no one ever calls out Jeanine (Kate Winslet) on her bullshit. Her premise, her entire raison d'etre for wiping out the Abnegation Faction in the last movie, and continuing to hunt Divergents in this one, is that Divergents have caused the Faction System to fail, and the only way to "fix society" is to slaughter all Divergents. BUT, never is it shown that this is true: in fact, in the first movie everything appeared to be just fine until Jeanine somehow convinced the leaders of Dauntless to go with her plan to mind control all of the Dauntless Faction, and use them to slaughter the Abnegation Faction.
Now, Martial Law had been declared, and though the mind control device has been destroyed, it appears a large number of Dauntless have now willingly allied themselves with Jeanine's Erudite Faction to take control of the city. Whether it's because they believe her lies that the Divergents were responsible for the attack, or they're just weak-willed savages who play along because it allows them to be bullies, I have no clue.
There is a macguffin in play, one that is supposedly the reason for Jeanine's campaign, but after reading some reviews I find that this is not in the books, and instead is something that the movie makes up from nothing. And it's strange thing, that once its true purpose is revealed becomes even stranger: why does a thing that ultimately turns out to be GOOD for Divergents (and the city as a whole), which is the opposite what Jeanine thinks it does, KILL Divergents who fail to open it? (It can only be opened by Divergents, but those who are not sufficiently Divergent do not simply fail, they die in the process. How does that make any sense? That's like being murdered because you tried to open a door with the wrong key!)
Oh, and Jeanine herself turns out to be a failure in the Evil Genius role. As the leader of Erudite, she's supposed to be smart, and I guess that while her Intelligence stat might be 18, her Wisdom score is at 10 or less. She fails at the most simple of logic tests: DO NOT TRUST TURNCOATS. Once a traitor, always a traitor, and yet she allows two- TWO of Tris' former allies to not only have access to her after she captured, but are allowed to spend time ALONE with her! If you can't spot the misjudgment in those actions, you're just as blind as Jeanine.
I don't know what to say about this series, or even to completely understand what's going on, except that it just seems to be one woman's insane grab at power, while most of society seems content to let her do so?
I just don't know. As action movies go, it's kind of so-so; Shailene Woodley is not an action star, and is actually fairly wooden in her performance. She appears to have just 2 emotions on her face: blank or sad. If you liked the books or saw the first movie, you might want to see this to see how it works out, but waiting for a rental wouldn't be a bad thing.
Unrelated Note: Why does "Terminator Genisys" spell Genesis like that? Is that some alternate spelling I've just never seen before?