In this day of Hollywood trying to bank off the Young Adult book craze, we’ve seen big hits and bigger misses, and some film adaptations that are just middle of the road. After a somewhat rocky start (at least from a critical perspective), DIVERGENT kicked into gear what could be the closest thing to a worthy successor to THE HUNGER GAMES franchise. The second of the series, last year’s INSURGENT, was a definite improvement over the first, and this weekend the third (called THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT) hits theaters… and as is the way now, it can’t just be the final film as they’re splitting it into two parts. So technically this is Part 1, although there’s actually nothing in the film that really indicates that, not even in the title or end credits. Even the ending gives it a self contained feel that could potentially make this a final chapter if need be. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

The third movie starts where the second movie ended. Tris (Shailene Woodley) has defeated Jeanine (Kate Winslet) and wants to know what is beyond the electrified wall that holds the different factions hostage. Those factions, led by Evelyn (Naomi Watts) and Johanna (Octavia Spencer), are in a state of unrest and growing more and more violent. Tris has her boyfriend Four (Theo James) rescue her imprisoned brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) from certain death, making them into fugitives. Now they have no choice but to head for the wall, joined by Christina (Zoë Kravitz), Peter (Miles Teller) and Tori (Maggie Q). The group transcends the wall, but one is killed in the process. Once over, they discover a seemingly endless wasteland of radioactive nothingness and red rain. Eventually they are met by high-tech soldiers and taken to the heart of what used to be Chicago and a giant advanced structure built on top of the old Chicago Airport, all ingeniously cloaked to those they don’t want seeing it. This facility and the troops that serve it are commanded by David (Jeff Daniels), who welcomes Tris and tells her she could be the key to fixing others around her who are “damaged” in their DNA, even her friends. David explains that her cooperation could lead to a perfect society. Meanwhile, Four doesn’t like her being segregated from everyone else, Caleb and Peter are reduced to spy camera duties, and Christina and Four are both made to serve as soldiers. As with many similar Sci-Fi stories like this, their utopia-like setting isn’t all that it seems, and they must figure out who to trust. As this is unfolding, back home the factions are going to war with each other as Evelyn and Johanna refuse to come to terms.

ALLEGIANT is filled with some rather cool (if familiar) Sci-Fi concepts that all seem pretty interesting, but the core script never seems to find a balance to make them all work. What you’re left with is a mish-mash of technically fascinating visuals that wrap around a story that lacks solid direction. Noah Oppenheim, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage wrote the screenplay, and it almost feels like they were constantly trying to re-balance the narrative while looking for a solid flow. Robert Schwentke (RED) returns to the director chair after previously helming INSURGENT, and while he handles the action and Sci-Fi stuff with an expert touch, even he can’t make the overall product feel cohesive. It’s also interesting to note that while Shailene Woodley is “the chosen one” character of the basic story, this installment is very much Four’s film, giving Theo James a chance to showcase some nice leading man qualities. He’s so good here it almost makes up for the biggest problem the series has faced from the start, in that Woodley is just not that interesting in the lead. This is an actress who is quite capable of doing good work, but the character of Tris never seems to find the right beats for her. Almost every scene she’s in has her delivering a dead-eyed and emotionless stare. It’s hard to tell whether she’s just not that into the role, or the filmmakers just don’t know how to bring that role to life – it’s sort of the polar opposite of what Jennifer Lawrence brilliantly did with Katniss in THE HUNGER GAMES series. Outside of Theo James and his strong performance in this outing, the other MVP becomes Miles Teller, who gets consistently funny lines and great character moments, finding in mere minutes a better reading than the entire leading role he had in last year’s failed FANTASTIC FOUR reboot. Zoë Kravitz, Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer and Ansel Elgort are given less to do than fans might expect, and previous installment stars Maggie Q and Ray Stevenson are basically given glorified cameos. Bill Skarsgård is mildly interesting as David’s stoic and creepy assistant, and Jonny Weston almost develops into a great henchman villain before his character runs out of things to do. Jeff Daniels does his best to make David an ambiguous and fascinating character, but the role is played a little to close to expectations for there to be any solid surprises.

Overall, ALLEGIANT is rather ambitious in its efforts and is perhaps the most interesting entry with its concepts, but doesn’t necessarily improve upon what came before it. The previous two films at least had the gravitas of Kate Winslet to fall back on, but the cast here all seem to just be going through the motions as the events play out. It is at times really cool and energetic, but frequently falls into banal moments of predictable fare. I’ve been told by fans that the events play out much differently here than in Veronica Roth’s novel, and not necessarily in a good way, but I’m guessing since this is meant to be the Part 1 of a two-part finale, certain narrative elements had to morph into a more self-contained story. And if for some strange reason the studio gave up on the franchise at this moment, one positive is that at least this installment wraps things up in a way to where a sequel isn’t necessarily essential. Perhaps Schwentke (who is supposedly not coming back for Part 2) wanted to make things flow more like a regular story here, and in some ways that’s admirable. I’ve always felt with these big franchise movies, each one should be able to stand on its own as a cohesive story. While ALLEGIANT isn’t what I’d call a great movie or even the best of the three, it is perhaps the best-looking of the franchise to date. That said, I’m not anxiously awaiting more of this tale, and I’m not sure others will be either.

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