Solemplex
To me, this movie is perfection.
Sexyloutak
Absolutely the worst movie.
Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
shirleyfuller
A mediocre effort at best Insurgent is hampered by a boring plot and even the action sequences fail to get a rise out of you. This makes Divergent look like Citizen kane. Should be avoided to teach Hollywood a lesson: Audiences are no fool.
AliRadicali
Probably the worst indictment I can give this forgettable franchise is that the only characters with any level of character development throughout the entire trilogy are bad guys and antiheroes. Our heroes, by stark contrast, start off being kind and virtuous and skilled in every conceivable way and thus are never required to grow as characters. I'm not sure if this is a problem in YA writing, film writing or feminist writing, possibly all of the above, but I can't help but notice similarities between the Divergent franchise and the Hunger Games: both of these purport to present a strong female role-model, and yet neither succeed in presenting anything but a petulant Mary Sue who inexplicably finds herself the center of her respective universe. Despite being an uppity go-getter who smashes through dozens of armed men at a whim, Triss is an object: things happen to her not because of the choices she makes but because she is divergent. In this regard Triss, like Katniss is a strange hybrid between the role of the princess and the role of the hero: both the object of the quest as the person going on the quest for said object. The result is muddled story telling without a point, because unlike a classical hero these spunky heroines never really have to grow to prove their worth; as the princess their value is inherent in what they are.Now I could go on to describe how this series features every cliché in the dystopian sci/fi genre, but frankly I wouldn't have cared if the material were competently handled. The operative word being "if". Sadly, the introduction to this setting, with its factions and it's bigotry-against-divergents, is done so lazily that you're left yelling "WHY?!" at the screen for two films straight before the franchise even tries to answer basic questions about the premise, despite the fact that virtually all the drama stems from it.On the plus side, this franchise had a few interesting ideas, albeit poorly executed, and the visuals were not half bad. Overall though, would only recommend as an exercise in critical film viewing, not as a legitimate film-viewing experience.
Alcuin Edwards (alcuin-5)
I found Divergent disappointing but Insurgent is a lovely film.In Insurgent, Triss is showing that she truly is Divergent. Previously, I had complained about her acting in the first film, which I had found to be somewhat one dimensional. In hindsight, I believe it to be very well played and Insurgent shows the full range of the actress' ability.I also loved the music in the film. I might have used rock music myself but I'd have been wrong. This was better. It fit the script and the plot.Now I'm looking forward to watching Allegiant tomorrow.Thank you all for producing such a lovely piece of film. Thank you also for showing that the second in the series does not have to be the worst. Sometimes it can be the best.Indeed...It was also the best book in the series.
Nejc Lozar
Before we get started, let me say that I haven't read a book. I just don't read. This is something that bothers me heavily when people are enraged and dislike a movie simply because it wasn't loyal to a book or when movie feels jumbled and confusing simply because you haven't read a book and when you complain about it people say you should read the book. Movie is a movie, book is a book.One of the most common complaints I heard about this film is that it has too convoluted plot. It most definitely has a complex plot but at no point did I feel lost. I would go as far and say that if you got lost in the plot you probably haven't paid proper attention or simply switched your brain off, because I was entertained and thrilled through out the entire run time.Insurgent is the kind of movie that greatly benefits from being a sequel. We already had our characters set up in a first movie (Divergent). With origin story out of the way we can just have our characters being badass right out the gate.Easily the most interesting character is of course Tris, played amazingly by Shailene Woodley. She is the heart and soul holding this movie together. And as I said we saw her became badass in Divergent, now we can just have her awesome immediately and she even steps it up further. One of my favorite scene in the movie is when she stands trail at Candor and is forced to speak the truth. Her performance in that scene is just... flawless. But not just her performance, but also the editing, timing of the shots, pausing, just an amazing and brilliantly crafted sequence. It's scenes like this that really make you connect with her character. Overall she absolutely sells it as this emotionally broken girl who feels that she has to make things right even after having lost everything already.With all that praise for Shailene Woodley, I must admit that the rest of the cast, with exception of Theo James and Milles Teller from time to time, does feels like they are a bit bored. The two big names (Kate Winslet and Naomi Watts) while good don't really do much.Another concept that I loved is the sim test to open that box. (For the spoiler sake that is all I will say.) I love how Tris feels like she needs to do it because she feels responsible. Not to mention that that scene contains some phenomenal action sequences. Also early on in a film there is some excellent and of course very subtle foreshadowing for one of the sims.It's just little gems like this, some truly well crafted and filmed action sequences (no shaky cam, thank god) and just an incredible performance from Shailene Woodley that honestly lead me to believe that this movie is much more then just a quick YA novel to film cash grab adaptation, especially since as I said I haven't read the book so I can just watch the movie for what it is.I honestly would go as far and say that is better then the original and definitely better then Allegiant which is what inspired me to rewatch the first two and review Insurgent.Ulitmatly Insurgent is not without it's fair share of flaws but overall this is one of the better young adult films we got so far.
