I have to admit that I was contemplating not to watch this movie. I am quite tired of the whole dystopian world and the fact that I’m also reading a book of another dystopian world – The Maze Runner. So, I’m getting quite sick of it. But I decided to give this movie a go. And I’m glad I did.

At first glance, the plot does look similar to the wildly popular The Hunger Games. Both The Hunger Games and Divergent have badass female protagonists and both worlds have its citizens divided into groups – The Hunger Games uses districts while Divergent uses factions. Even the clothes for District 12 and Abnegation looks similar. The villains are also quite similar – someone who seemingly did everything that’s supposed to keep things in order but are afraid of people who defy said order and do everything they can to banish these people.

So, yes, there are similarities between these two but I think it’s good because the world needs more badass female protagonists saving the world.

But I heard that some critics actually compared this to Twilight, which I have to very much disagree. If it is similar to Twilight, I would have run out of the theatre and not look back. I find that Tris is similar to Katniss, both are strong-willed and both questioned the authorities. Both also defied said authorities and fought against them. I don’t find Tris similar to Bella Swan. None at all.

The plot, at least the movie since I have not read the book yet, is engaging and I did find myself at the edge of my seat at the end. Some of the casts will be familiar to the audience – Kate Winslet and Ashley Judd being two of them. You will also see Shailene Woodley (Tris) and Ansel Elgort (Caleb) in another movie coming up very soon this year – The Fault In Our Stars – and in that movie, they will be lovers instead of siblings. I did chuckle a little when I saw Ansel’s name on the opening credits. I did not know he would be in this movie. So, it is a little surprising to see him acting as Shailene’s brother since I was used to watching the trailer for The Fault In Our Stars and seeing them as lovers.

Despite what the critics might have said about this movie, I do feel that it is actually pretty good. It’s not Twilight by any chance. So, I have to give this movie a 3.5 out of 5. Not exactly the best movie ever but it is awesome nonetheless. And watching Theo James shirtless doesn’t hurt either.

The trailer…