With the story set up in the first film, 'Divergent', the sequel, 'Insurgent', is able to focus on the action and character development.
Unless you had read the book, last year's hit 'Divergent' probably left you scratching your head about the story set in post-war Chicago, where people are segmented into factions according to their personalities (Dauntless, Candor, Amity, Erudite and Abnegation), plus the factionless rebels and multi-factioned divergents. Basically it all felt rather contrived, and director Neil Burger's movie had to spend too much time trying to explain how it worked.
Maggie Q and Shailene Woodley in 'Divergent'
Now we move into the second chapter, 'Insurgent', and director Robert Schwentke can just get on with the story, playing down the odd structure of this closed-off city. So it's a much more involving movie that centres on the characters themselves, weaving the action into their personal situations while building a much more urgent sense of suspense up to another cliff-hanger ending. This also lets the female-dominated cast members shine, including Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet and Naomi Watts, plus Octavia Spencer in a key cameo, and Ashley Judd in recurring flashbacks.
More: Read The Reivew For 'Insurgent' here
Woodley enjoyed this additional complexity. "I like that in this film Tris had bigger polarities," she said. "She's a bit impulsive, which she could work on, but I like that she's very weak and very strong at the same time. I thought that was interesting. In the first film she's weak and strong more in physicality and in this movie she's weak and strong from a mental perspective."
Watch The Trailer For 'Insurgent' Here:
The next book in Veronica Roth's trilogy is 'Allegiant', which is of course being split into two films: Part 1 opens next year, with Part 2 in 2017. The title refers to another group of rebels trying to re-establish the old way of life in Chicago.
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