Original cast returns with new additions
Calling all aficionados of science fiction action films! Are you still catching your breath after the blockbuster success of the Divergent movie earlier this year? The woman behind the original Divergent trilogy of adventure novels, Veronica Roth, certainly has reason to be pleased with the $288.75 million pulled worldwide by the last flick, and there's already a sequel on the way.
Roth only wrote her debut novel, Divergent, in 2011, but earlier this year came the release of its film adaptation, with Lucy Fisher, Pouya Shabazian and Douglas Wick on production duties, while Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor handled the screenplay. As you might expect, the cast was also pretty formidable, with Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn, Maggie Q and Kate Winslet all starring.
Now, we're all set for the release of a sequel on March 20, 2015, based on Roth's 2012 addition to the trilogy, Insurgent.
an intriguing back story
For those unaware, the original movie centered on the story of Beatrice "Tris" Prior, played by Woodley, who receives a warning that she is Divergent and will therefore never fit into one of the distinct factions based on human virtues - that prevail in a dystopian post-apocalyptic Chicago.
That story is continued in the The Divergent Series: Insurgent, with Tris trying to make sense of the intention behind the insurrection of Erudite, as well as information subject to attempted protection by the Abnegation. The existing cast returns, alongside such supporting talents as Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Suki Waterhouse and Rosa Salazar.
While there has been a change of director between the two movies - from Neil Burger to Robert Schwentke Burger remains on board as executive producer. Brian Duffield and Akiva Goldsman, meanwhile, have taken on screenplay responsibilities. With filming having officially wrapped up in September and the conversion of the film to 3-D having subsequently taken place in post-production, all that remains is for us to see the movie itself.
atruly teasing teaser trailer
The minute long trailer that has been released for The Divergent Series: Insurgent is a little short on plot details, but nonetheless very much does its job of teasing you ahead of the complete flick. It's suitably dramatic, only featuring two characters, Tris and her mother Natalie Prior (played by Judd), as the latter becomes trapped in a burning house.
We're presuming that this is some sort of dream sequence rather than a depiction of actual events in the film, given Natalie's death in the original Divergent. Maybe it's as speculated by the Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex site "a drug induced hallucination that plays on a character's fears", "an imaginary test that that tris must pass" (the suggestion of Time) or something completely different.
What the trailer is basically about other than leaving us guessing about the finer details is showing off the movie's admittedly impressive CGI. In the wake of the previous film's success, we don't doubt that the trailer will be more than enough to get fans heading to the cinema in their droves. Even the movie poster doesn't offer many more clues, given its depiction of that same burning house.
Fan and critical reaction to that trailer
If you needed any evidence of just how much meaningful insight could be gleaned from a mere 60 plus second trailer, you would only need to read about the endless fan and critical reaction to it.In all fairness, the trailer was released after months of the movie's stars suggesting that the latest addition to the Divergent movie trilogy would feature more action, and it definitely didn't disappoint on that front.
One fan on Twitter declared the teaser to be "just breathtaking, I love the effects so much, congrats to all the Divergent team!", while another commented: "I have no words to express myself right now. The #InsurgentTeaser was much more than I was expecting. I'm shocked." As for the critical reaction, Zach Dennis, writing for EnStars, cited four things that viewers could learn from the trailer. They included that Tris is still burdened with regret about how the original divergent ended, Dennis commenting that her mother's death had "left a giant hole inside her heart".
Dennis added that the trailer was also enough to confirm that "a lot more action is on the way for this movie", backing up Woodley and costar Theo James' recent claims. The two actors said that a train sequence later in the movie would particularly impress.
Among Dennis' other conclusions were that "Tris will be split between people she cares about", pointing to "rumors that a love triangle between Four (James) and another character could be created", as well as "the underlying threat that her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) could be betraying her."
Also tipped by Dennis was that "The movie will pull a Hunger Games and up the ante in the sequel", adding that "While big events happened in the first movie, even more will happen in this one."
Finally, Dennis described the trailer as "only the start of what will happen", commenting that "We have yet to see Four, Caleb, Peter and the rest of the gang yet so there is still a lot to learn as we approach the movie."
woodley sounds Full of enthusiasm
Looking back to October, Woodley certainly primed us all for this trailer when he told the New York Daily News that the new movie "has so much more action than Divergent did and the action scenes are, like, seven-minute long sequences." The 23 year old was obviously anxious to avoid spoilers, but did reveal that one scene sees her dangling in a high harness while surrounded by green screens.
She continued: "Then they compiled the shots and showed me on the screen what it would look like and I remember being like, 'A, technology is f**** crazy and B, it's so much fun'. I felt like Spider-Man." With Woodley having also suggested that there will be a richer story, with more focus on the characters' relationships, it sounds like Insurgent will be a step forward from Divergent in more ways than one.
While Woodley described the movie as "pretty emotional" in an interview with Hero Complex, James qualified that it wasn't "in a cheesy way". He added: "There’s real stakes behind it, and sometimes that's hard to find in spectacular situations. If you're watching these movies that are spectacles, which are fun and it's about this thing and escapism, sometimes the crux of the emotionality gets lost. That doesn't necessarily sometimes matter, but we are trying to retain that with this film."
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