Thoughts On: Insurgent…the movie in Thoughts On...

It has taken me a week and a half to finally compose my thoughts on the film into a somewhat cohesive rundown. Beware there are spoilers.

Honestly, I think the only thing that made it from the book to the movie was a few concepts based on scenes from the book, some of the characters and the title.
I am just going to bullet my thoughts/issues with the movie as it relates to the first movie (Divergent) and the book(s) by Veronica Roth.
• The biggest problem I have/had with the film is the complete 360 from Divergent. You can definitely tell there was a different director. The “city” was completely different, there was a buttload of technology that didn’t exist in the first movie or in the book, I don’t even recall seeing the Ferris Wheel that is such an iconic feature for the “former” Chicago. The movie was so blatantly made for imax it is ridiculous.

• The story didn’t even feel the same. It didn’t feel like Tris & Tobias/Four were on a journey for the truth, it was more revenge focused.

• I assume the Johnny Weston character was Edgar who replaced Edward from the book (still my biggest bitch with the first film was the exclusion of Edward & the butter knife scene). This pisses me off to no end because that was a big continuity point for me when I read the series. I liked that Edward rebounded and became a force among the factionless. (Also, I don’t know who Johnny Weston is)

• The lack of Marcus. There were two scenes with Marcus in the film. In the book, Marcus had a huge presence and there was this great triangle of emotion with Tobias/Evelyn/Marcus. Plus Marcus was the one who told them about the disc.

• The box. Seriously a box hidden in the Prior household that can only be opened by a divergent? Here is one example of the technology that never existed! But I can’t talk about the box until I talk about

• The Scanner! Holy hell did that not even happen. Erudite did not have a scanner to scan people and tell if they were divergent, let alone what percentage. Max & Eric did not go around with an army and randomly scan people then take them to Erudite and have them strapped up to the ceiling snake to go through sims to try and open the box.

• Sims/Serums: First I believe there was only one sim in the book and that was when Tobias/Four went back to Dauntless (which they never did revisit Dauntless in the film). Tris did not go through sims to open the box, well because there was no box. Also, Tris was injected with the peace serum when she went batshit on Peter in Amity. I know from online buzz that all the fangirls were wanting the peace serum scene so bad and then it was a complete bullshit segment. And the truth serum done at Candor? Well Tris was able to resist it, although she still told the truth. They were seated in a chair and asked several questions. Also, Marcus was put on “truth trial” as well. People did not just stand around watching.

• Can we talk about the clothing for a minute? Tris had more sleeveless and skin baring attire. She still had a lot of Abnegation in her and I don’t think she would have just been a rebellious teen and said I think I will dress like a skank now. Also, Christina had a grey belly shirt that looked like it had been cut off and had random pin-prick holes in it. She was home in Candor, is Dauntless and wearing Abnegation grey in a fashion that no Abnegation would ever wear it. Huh? And did anyone else notice all the sheer white dresses that the Candor day players were wearing?

• Wasn’t it Cara, Will’s sister who got Christina to forgive Tris for killing Will? Cara was a big player in the book and yet was non-existent in the film, much like Edward and that little boy whose name I can’t remember, but helped Tris, Christina and someone else get across the building before plummeting to his death.

• Four/Tobias…the name. From the moment Tris learned that Four was Tobias Eaton, she called him Tobias. Yet the only time his real name was mentioned was when he used it as the secret club password to get into the Factionless headquarters to see Mama Eaton.

• Evelyn NEVER made contact with Tobias until the Four short-story collection was written. It was never in the book Insurgent. It only appeared in the short story collection (which is really hard for me to get through because all I want to do is scream how none of it makes sense after reading the trilogy).

• The bullet wound. Tris got shot during the sim attack on Abnegation. Remember Jeanine poking her wound and saying that she was injured and was no good to them? Because apparently you can’t test on someone with a bullet wound, but whatever. Her father helped clean and dress the wound before they went off to Dauntless to stop the sim and Tobias. She had a hard time doing certain things without wincing in pain, yet when she appears onscreen wearing not much at all, she has no bullet wound, scar, or even a hint of imperfection.

• Sex. They did not have freaking sex at Factionless HQ. They didn’t even sleep in the same bed until Allegiant where they maybe had sex. They didn’t even sleep in the same room in Amity because they are all probably virginal hippies and have separate dormitories. She did not bunk with him and have Mama Eaton visit only to be a bad dream about how she gets everyone killed. She didn’t have dreams about her mom, she had dreams about killing Will.

• Gun Play. She had a super hard time holding a gun let alone hosing down a whole bunch of Dauntlessdite soldiers in a field.

• I don’t recall Caleb beating the ever loving shit out of a factionless on a train then being to afraid to defend his sister who bailed his ass out a few times. I mean sure, Caleb is a total Erudite dick, but still that didn’t happen. And there was zero mention of Abnegation making clothing for the factionless with bolts of fabric. I know for a fact it was never mentioned who made the clothing because I always wondered. And I am pretty sure the factionless didn’t get new duds, they got hand me downs and whatever they walked out of their faction with. They are the homeless afterall.

• Factionless HQ felt like a 90s Janet Jackson video. And that is all I have to say on that. Also, were did they get that nice spread for dinner? Abnegation fed them and they only ate plain shit. Weren’t they eating beans out of a can in the book?

• Uh, Jeanine’s face was never on the side of a building and there was a broadcast system.

• Tris’ wound miraculously heals, but Jeanine still has a bum hand. I will give kudos to the writers for that bit of continuity, but it never happened in the first place so…

• Also, that is not what happened to Eric.

• And the end? Yeah people were not flocking to the suddenly opened-by-a-garage-door-opener gate to leave the city.

• Oh, but the very end. That was not even close. Not even in the vicinity of the entire state of Illinois as to what really happened.

Some other little bits
• Naomi Watts is still a horrible actress, but she looked great as a brunette.
• I still like Peter…a lot. And his “f bomb” that was cleverly not blatant was one of my favorite parts.
• Eric saying both “shit” and “bullshit” made me laugh outloud.
• If they were just going to randomly make up shit that never happened, why couldn’t they have told us how Johanna got her scar? Seriously the one thing that was never answered that still has me raging mad.
• I’m thinking Allegiant is going to be one giant turd that has nothing to do with the actual book considering all the changes they made in Insurgent.
• Totally random but, Veronica Roth does not look good as a platinum blonde.
• Am I the only person who wanted someone to yell out “What’s in the box”?