Allegiant, the third in the Divergent series, directly follows the events from Insurgent after the demise of Jeanine and her plans.
Naomi Watts reprises her role as Evelyn, mother of Four and leader of the Factionless, who ends up following a somewhat similar path to Jeanine. Four and Tris realise they must leave the Factionless behind to escape Chicago. Leading a small group of their friends to the world beyond the walls where they finally find out the shocking truth.
Divergent and Insurgent had a strong focus on action scenes with a noticeably great score to back it up. Allegiant does not follow the same formula, instead, the plot focuses more on explaining and setting up what is to come in the next instalment. There are very few actions scenes and even those finish quickly without any build-up or excitement.
As the script and timeline are different to the book, focusing on the story would have been great had the writers chose not to weaken certain characters, ditched clichéd moments and added some element of surprise. As it stands, Allegiant suffers from a very predictable script even if you have never read any of the books. It’s also baffling how such a strong character such as Tris, who has always questioned everything in her life, all of a sudden got turned into a person who blindly trusts a stranger.
Those familiar with the series will know a lot of CGI is necessary to create the world they live in, which is great when done properly. While the majority of the cinematography and special effects are done exceptionally well, there are certain scenes which look like they were created with 90s technology. With the amount of money the Divergent series has brought in for the studio, one would expect top quality when it comes to the CGI.
To her credit, Shailene Woodley does well with what she was given. She also seems to have trained harder for this movie as her few fight scenes look less awkward than previously. Jeff Daniels has the ability to be equally funny or creepy simply by using certain looks of his. In Allegiant, he achieves the latter without any effort. Theo James is a pleasant standout. He brought an element of menace and virtue to his underrated role as Four. He also managed to become even more pleasant to look at than before.
Allegiant would have immensely benefited with some tweaks to the script but it’s still worth seeing if you are fan of the series or any of the talent involved.
I rate it 5 out of 10 stars.
Allegiant is in cinemas now.
