Allegiant - directed by Robert Schwentke
***** possibly minor spoilers *****
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller, Zoe Kravitz, Jeff Daniels, Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Ansel Elgort, Daniel Dae Kim, Maggie Q, Bill Skarsgard, Mekhi Phifer, Johnny Weston, Ray Stevenson, Xander Berkeley, Rebecca Pidgeon, Nadia Hilker
Screenplay: Noah Oppenheim, Adam Cooper & Bill Collage
Music Score by: Joseph Trapanese
Cinematography: Florian Ballhaus
Edited by: Stuart Levy
Running Time: 120 minutes
Rated: TBC - Assume an M for Hunger Games level violence
Have a closer look at the poster on the left.
Really... click on it- it'll open up bigger for you.
I don't know who created this poster or who at the studio signed off on it but what in the hell were these people thinking?
It is aiming to portray an exciting sequence in a fantastic, dangerous locale but Miles Teller and Zoe Kravitz look like they are trying to remember where they left their keys, Theo James is straight out of an EziBuy catalogue selling spiffy red pants, Shailene Woodley is on the next page for the hair products (how else to explain the direction of her hair compared to the others?) and Ansel Elgort looks like he has escaped from a surfing movie.
It is a bizarre attempt to sell this movie that is nonetheless oddly appropriate for all the wrong reasons.
"Allegiant" - often monikered "The Divergent Series: Allegiant" to remind us which of the numerous teen sci-fi / romance novels turned into films we are watching is the third film in this particular one.
And as is also the norm although the third book is supposed to end the trilogy the film adaptation of it has been split into two films making this a quadrilogy.
So after "Allegiant" the film series will be finished off with "Ascendant".
And a good job too as Summit Entertainment must be running out of titles ending with 'ant' so I guess we are spared "Croissant", "Pissant" and "Deviant" although to be fair they might be more compelling than this latest entry.
These films have their fans and although I wouldn't go so far as to count myself one I have enjoyed the previous movies in the series- specially the last one.
"Insurgent" was full of action, Kate Winslet, some nice effects and a fun story and I slapped a very respectable 78/100 on it (here)
"Allegiant" on the other hand is a mixed bag ot put it mildly.
Every time it did something that made me happy it immediately followed it up with something that left me baffled and more often than not- annoyed.
An early example is the scene that inspired the poster- the wall climb.
This is a pretty exciting sequence in which six people led by Shailene Woodley's Tris and Theo James' Four sprint across a field and attempt to rappel up a huge concrete wall with an electrified top piece while bad guys in armoured jeeps fire super cool automatic weapons at them.
I know.... very cool right?
And it is.
There is real urgency and tension in the scene as the group 'walk' vertically up the huge structure.
After an impressively large explosion that removes the electricity problem they hit the peak of the wall and gaze out across the land outside of the city that has been their entire lives to see for the first time what the world beyond is like.
And as they stand with mouths open one of them is taken out by a single shot from the ground below - eyes lifeless.
A cracking good shot from the pursuers who a short time ago didn't come within sniff of hitting them when they were far, far closer.
It's an unlikely and frankly pathetic death for a character who deserves a lot better.
"Allegiant" giveth and then it taketh away.
And it keeps doing it for the entirety of its two hour running time.
Every time a nicely rendered visual effect appeared there was soon an out and out nasty one a short time later.
Once the surviving wall climbers arrive at the presumed safety of the super clean city beyond an invisible force field we are subjected to some terrific futuristic architecture and landscapes.
And some horribly sparce, non-sensical ones.
There is no sense of design or function about this city - it appears cobbled together randomly.
Jeff Daniels plays David the director of The Bureau of Genetic Welfare (seriously) and he is housed in the penthouse right at the top of the tallest building in the city.
It has two red couches and pretty much nothing else.
Efficient use of space is clearly not a priority in this future.
David also has a pretty cool ship that looks like a reject from the Tom Cruise flick "Oblivion".
It is all white and clean and very efficient looking while every other craft we see (and there are not many) is a harsh grey, steel, industrial-military looking thing.
I realise that these ships are really military in application but it further shows what an inconsistent movie this is.
One civilian ship only?
Nothing about this place feels 'real'.
There is no coherence or logic to the locations, vehicles or in fact with the characters and their actions.
The group is collected from the wastelands by a group who surround them in plasma bubbles that cling precariously to the sides of a fast moving ship that takes them to the city.
Not once do any of the party look worried about this despite this being so far removed from anything that they have experienced in their own run down, primitive by comparison city.
Four is trained as a soldier by newcomer Nita (German actress Nadia Hilker) and she tells him that it will take him a long time to get the hang of his new hi-tech toys.
It doesn't.
Even though these people have watched Four all of his life using super-duper undetectable surveillance and know everything about him they apparently missed that he is a born ass-kicker.
Later Four insists that he go on a patrol to the radioactive deadlands outside despite David not wanting him to.
But Christina is in the squad already so that is now two people who have not only completed their military training in record time and managed to go on a mission that they are expressly forbidden to go on.
And they witness something that completely reveals the lies that they have been told.
Also Caleb is given free reign with a job using the aforementioned super-duper surveillance system with no controls over what he does with it.
Sure enough Tris approaches him later to ask him to use it spy on their old town but of course he shouldn't tell anyone.
Oh God... the lack of logic is amazing.
Further annoyances happen with the arrival and very prompt departure of the great Xander Berkeley and Rebecca Pidgeon.
If you want to know how good Pidgeon is watch "The Spanish Prisoner" with Steve Martin and Campbell Scott because you sure don't get a sense of it here.
Berkeley and Pidgeon are so much better than the material that they are given here but nonetheless manage to milk a bit of dignity and gravitas from it.
And to be fair Shailene Woodley continues to do a great job in the lead.
Tris is a pretty flat character but Woodley gives it her all and is a truly talented actress generally.
She is no Jennifer Lawrence though and Tris is no Katniss so it is hard to care too deeply for the character or her plight.
This isn't on Woodley of course.
The script is firmly to blame.
With no knowledge of the books I can't say whether this is an issue only with the movies but I grew more and more frustrated with how many gaping plot holes appeared.
This film makes me think that the first two had worked the writes into a corner and they didn't know what direction to head.
"Allegiant" is a confusing ride.
Uneven.
Baffling.
The story doesn't make a lot of sense, the final shot sure as hell doesn't and it undoes a lot of the good work that the two previous movies did in positioning what many saw as a knock-off of The Hunger Games as if not that series' equal then certainly the next best thing.
The actions of every character are muddled and you get no sense of who they are.
Two of the main cast are both heroes and villains at various points but no one holds them to account for it.
They are trusted completely at all times.
Frequently characters are able to exploit gross incompetence, blindness and/or deafness in their adversaries to escape, steal and fool them.
Four gets into a fight and steals something from an enemy and it is still in his tightly clenched hand when he wakes up in his cell from being beaten into unconsciousness.
Now, a couple of inconsistencies and a credibility stretching event here or there is fine by me - I don't need this sort of flick to be watertight and bulletproof but there is a limit.
With little other than a great cast (who are roundly under-utilised) and the lovely as all hell Woodley to recommend it this movie could well fatally wound a series that prior to this film looked to be getting better and better.
Oh well - there's always the Maze Runner.
RATING: 65 / 100
CONCLUSION: A muddled mess that makes little sense. Whatever does work is overwhelmed by the stuff that doesn't. Woodley is as appealing as always but she and some nice cinematography by Florian Ballhaus aren't nearly enough to salvage this possible franchise-killer
***** possibly minor spoilers *****
Screenplay: Noah Oppenheim, Adam Cooper & Bill Collage
Music Score by: Joseph Trapanese
Cinematography: Florian Ballhaus
Edited by: Stuart Levy
Running Time: 120 minutes
Rated: TBC - Assume an M for Hunger Games level violence
Have a closer look at the poster on the left.
Really... click on it- it'll open up bigger for you.
I don't know who created this poster or who at the studio signed off on it but what in the hell were these people thinking?
It is aiming to portray an exciting sequence in a fantastic, dangerous locale but Miles Teller and Zoe Kravitz look like they are trying to remember where they left their keys, Theo James is straight out of an EziBuy catalogue selling spiffy red pants, Shailene Woodley is on the next page for the hair products (how else to explain the direction of her hair compared to the others?) and Ansel Elgort looks like he has escaped from a surfing movie.
It is a bizarre attempt to sell this movie that is nonetheless oddly appropriate for all the wrong reasons.
"Allegiant" - often monikered "The Divergent Series: Allegiant" to remind us which of the numerous teen sci-fi / romance novels turned into films we are watching is the third film in this particular one.
And as is also the norm although the third book is supposed to end the trilogy the film adaptation of it has been split into two films making this a quadrilogy.
So after "Allegiant" the film series will be finished off with "Ascendant".
And a good job too as Summit Entertainment must be running out of titles ending with 'ant' so I guess we are spared "Croissant", "Pissant" and "Deviant" although to be fair they might be more compelling than this latest entry.
These films have their fans and although I wouldn't go so far as to count myself one I have enjoyed the previous movies in the series- specially the last one.
"Insurgent" was full of action, Kate Winslet, some nice effects and a fun story and I slapped a very respectable 78/100 on it (here)
"Allegiant" on the other hand is a mixed bag ot put it mildly.
Every time it did something that made me happy it immediately followed it up with something that left me baffled and more often than not- annoyed.
 |
| Get ready for the most annoying death since that soldier in Saving Private Ryan got shot in the helmet then took it off |
This is a pretty exciting sequence in which six people led by Shailene Woodley's Tris and Theo James' Four sprint across a field and attempt to rappel up a huge concrete wall with an electrified top piece while bad guys in armoured jeeps fire super cool automatic weapons at them.
I know.... very cool right?
And it is.
There is real urgency and tension in the scene as the group 'walk' vertically up the huge structure.
After an impressively large explosion that removes the electricity problem they hit the peak of the wall and gaze out across the land outside of the city that has been their entire lives to see for the first time what the world beyond is like.
And as they stand with mouths open one of them is taken out by a single shot from the ground below - eyes lifeless.
A cracking good shot from the pursuers who a short time ago didn't come within sniff of hitting them when they were far, far closer.
It's an unlikely and frankly pathetic death for a character who deserves a lot better.
"Allegiant" giveth and then it taketh away.
And it keeps doing it for the entirety of its two hour running time.
 |
| Sex in the future will apparently by very, very safe but travel.... not so much |
Once the surviving wall climbers arrive at the presumed safety of the super clean city beyond an invisible force field we are subjected to some terrific futuristic architecture and landscapes.
And some horribly sparce, non-sensical ones.
There is no sense of design or function about this city - it appears cobbled together randomly.
Jeff Daniels plays David the director of The Bureau of Genetic Welfare (seriously) and he is housed in the penthouse right at the top of the tallest building in the city.
It has two red couches and pretty much nothing else.
Efficient use of space is clearly not a priority in this future.
David also has a pretty cool ship that looks like a reject from the Tom Cruise flick "Oblivion".
It is all white and clean and very efficient looking while every other craft we see (and there are not many) is a harsh grey, steel, industrial-military looking thing.
I realise that these ships are really military in application but it further shows what an inconsistent movie this is.
One civilian ship only?
Nothing about this place feels 'real'.
There is no coherence or logic to the locations, vehicles or in fact with the characters and their actions.
The group is collected from the wastelands by a group who surround them in plasma bubbles that cling precariously to the sides of a fast moving ship that takes them to the city.
Not once do any of the party look worried about this despite this being so far removed from anything that they have experienced in their own run down, primitive by comparison city.
Four is trained as a soldier by newcomer Nita (German actress Nadia Hilker) and she tells him that it will take him a long time to get the hang of his new hi-tech toys.
It doesn't.
Even though these people have watched Four all of his life using super-duper undetectable surveillance and know everything about him they apparently missed that he is a born ass-kicker.
Later Four insists that he go on a patrol to the radioactive deadlands outside despite David not wanting him to.
But Christina is in the squad already so that is now two people who have not only completed their military training in record time and managed to go on a mission that they are expressly forbidden to go on.
And they witness something that completely reveals the lies that they have been told.
Also Caleb is given free reign with a job using the aforementioned super-duper surveillance system with no controls over what he does with it.
Sure enough Tris approaches him later to ask him to use it spy on their old town but of course he shouldn't tell anyone.
Oh God... the lack of logic is amazing.
 |
| Jeff Daniels is merely one of the many, many exceptional actors whose talent is squandered |
If you want to know how good Pidgeon is watch "The Spanish Prisoner" with Steve Martin and Campbell Scott because you sure don't get a sense of it here.
Berkeley and Pidgeon are so much better than the material that they are given here but nonetheless manage to milk a bit of dignity and gravitas from it.
And to be fair Shailene Woodley continues to do a great job in the lead.
Tris is a pretty flat character but Woodley gives it her all and is a truly talented actress generally.
She is no Jennifer Lawrence though and Tris is no Katniss so it is hard to care too deeply for the character or her plight.
This isn't on Woodley of course.
The script is firmly to blame.
With no knowledge of the books I can't say whether this is an issue only with the movies but I grew more and more frustrated with how many gaping plot holes appeared.
This film makes me think that the first two had worked the writes into a corner and they didn't know what direction to head.
"Allegiant" is a confusing ride.
Uneven.
Baffling.
The story doesn't make a lot of sense, the final shot sure as hell doesn't and it undoes a lot of the good work that the two previous movies did in positioning what many saw as a knock-off of The Hunger Games as if not that series' equal then certainly the next best thing.
The actions of every character are muddled and you get no sense of who they are.
Two of the main cast are both heroes and villains at various points but no one holds them to account for it.
They are trusted completely at all times.
Frequently characters are able to exploit gross incompetence, blindness and/or deafness in their adversaries to escape, steal and fool them.
Four gets into a fight and steals something from an enemy and it is still in his tightly clenched hand when he wakes up in his cell from being beaten into unconsciousness.
Now, a couple of inconsistencies and a credibility stretching event here or there is fine by me - I don't need this sort of flick to be watertight and bulletproof but there is a limit.
With little other than a great cast (who are roundly under-utilised) and the lovely as all hell Woodley to recommend it this movie could well fatally wound a series that prior to this film looked to be getting better and better.
Oh well - there's always the Maze Runner.
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