Divergent 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Now that we’ve gotten three DIVERGENT films, it’s hard to judge the first film without considering the drastic decline of the next two films. But if we try to ignore the nonsensical storylines and gag-inducing romance of the second and third films, the first DIVERGENT film is actually okay, at least compared to other YA adaptations. I’m not sure that’s a glowing endorsement, but again, it’s a sliding scale for YA adaptations.
Divided into five factions of life, the future of society has a very structured way of living. Before entering adulthood, people are to take a type of personality/attribute test that will help guide them in the career path they should take. However, as I said before, there are only five choices and it ultimately is up to each individual on what they decide to choose. Imagine a much more detailed and life altering consequence of the “sorting hat” scene from HARRY POTTER.
The five factions are as follows: Abnegation meant for the selfless, Amity meant for the peaceful, Candor meant for the honest, Dauntless meant for the brave, and Erudite meant for the intelligent. Most people follow in the foot steps of the their parents but every year there are plenty of transits as well. Our heroine, Beatrice (Shailene Woodley), has been raised as an Abnegation but when she takes her test an odd placement is her result. Beatrice fits more than one category, which is defined as a Divergent. Divergents are feared as they don’t conform into society’s neat little box. Beatrice must keep her secret hidden and follow her heart.
Right off the bat, it’s hard not to roll your eyes. Obviously, author Veronica Roth is using the five factions as a metaphor for the molds society wants people (and especially women) to fit into. Tris is representative of every person that wanted to blaze their own trail and do their own thing. Director Neil Burger doesn’t hit us over the head with these metaphors, but the point is that the film is specifically targeting teenagers because everyone over the age of 23 has already lived through this. But the movie does a decent job of trying to bring us into this world and care about these characters, even if the world they’ve created isn’t perfect.
DIVERGENT runs a little long at just under 2.5 hours, but as the first film in the series, it has to set up the world they’re in and set the stage for the sequels. It’s hard to make a recommendation on this film now that I’ve seen the next two films because although I thought this one was okay, the next two films are almost unwatchable, so I don’t know if I’d recommend anyone pick up the series this late in the game.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: I had to go back and take a look at the production budgets for the three Divergent films. I suspected that they dropped in budget with each subsequent film, but I was wrong. It turns out that the first Divergent actually cost $25 million less than Insurgent, which ruined my theory that the effects got worse because they ran out of money. But anyway, the first Divergent film looks much better than the second and third (click INSURGENT and ALLEGIANT to read our 4K Ultra HD reviews). That said, DIVERGENT follows the same line of thinking as the other two films in that it looks wonderful during non-CGI films and just okay during CGI scenes. But the difference with DIVERGENT is that there aren’t that many CGI scenes and what they do have are done better than the other two films. There isn’t a scene that stood out to me, but any scene before the “revolution” is a good example of the 4K format at work.
Audio: Interestingly enough, there is no Dolby Atmos track included on DIVERGENT, despite the fact that ALLEGIANT and INSURGENT both had one. That’s disappointing because I thought the audio tracks on those were the highlight. The included DTS-X track wasn’t bad by any means, but I missed the Atmos.
There are no 4K exclusive special features, but it does include a Blu-ray of the film and you can read our review by clicking the link DIVERGENT BLU-RAY REVIEW.
Click 4K Ultra HD to read more of our 4K reviews.