I see what you did there Allegiant movie team, and I’m not
even mad at you!
 |
| My body is ready! |
"On a scale of zero to Allegiant, how much did they change?' This is the standard question to now be used when speaking about book to movie adaptations.
 |
| We're certainly pushing it |
So, on a scale from zero to Allegiant, how bad is my pain? The correct answer of course is always Four, even when it’s not.
 |
| The answer is always Four |
The Allegiant movie
is a standalone piece of work that pulls from author Veronica Roth’s
third novel of the same name. To be
fair, I’m really not sure why people are surprised that the film wandered as
far from the source material as it did.
Insurgent wasn’t exactly a page for page adaptation either, liberties
were certainly taken.
 |
| Remember me? |
Couple that with
the fact that a lot of fans were not happy when they read Allegiant, and I’d
think people would enjoy the fresh take on the franchise; the angry mob cries
of teenage girls in the movie theater, however, would seem to indicate
otherwise.
 |
| Calm down teens! |
If you’re the glass half-empty type of book fan, you will
leave the theater feeling like your world has been crushed and your heart has
been unapologetically ripped from your chest.
You should know that you are also being really melodramatic, just like
the teen girls who were sitting in front of me.
 |
| Which side is your soul? |
Change isn’t always a bad thing, as a matter of fact, change is
good. You change your underwear every
day I hope. Puberty is change, sure it
has its ups and downs, but it leads you to a fruitful world of unending
possibility. There are a lot of feelings
involved, I know, but don’t be dramatic about it, go with it!
 |
Let’s face it; Veronica Roth’s Allegiant really wasn’t
expansive enough to constitute two movies.
For that to happen, the world was going to have to be expanded, and in
some cases that expansion has completely changed the layout.
So without further ado- Plot, plot, plot, plot... |
| I am |
So, this movie was all over the book landscape. I think I see what they are going for, I could be wrong, but I doubt it. The first part of the book is loosely represented in the first part of the film. The second half of the film seemed to focus heavily on the part of the novel ending that took place in Chicago, with some major differences and yet still the same idea. These events then set up a sort of whole new layer to the plot that I anticipate will heavily influence the first part of Ascendant, with the second half of Ascendant containing that stuff from the end of the novel that took place at the Bureau of Genetic Fuckupery. It’s a clever way to take limited content and spread it out by adding content instead of filer. I may be in the minority here, but I do see what they were going for, and I applaud it.
 |
| Someone who gets it |
There were many things that the film did well, the most
obvious for me being that they were able to really capture the split
perspective, between Four and Tris, the way it was represented in the book. I’d go as far as to say that Allegiant was
more heavily focused on Four, which you will never hear me complain about.
 |
| It makes me dizzy, but I don't even care |
Theo James’ role this time around was very
physical, more so than in the past two films even. I’d seriously watch Four sitting on a couch,
watching the Smurfs for two hours, so getting to see him kick some serious ass
was an all-around good time.
 |
| All day! |
Hormones
aside, Four is one of my favorite literary characters. He is a complicated, layered and
temperamental individual. His response
to the fringe, and what the bureau was doing there, was exactly as it should have
been. I fully support the shower he took before leaving, though.
 |
| Is it me or is his hair dry? |
Why wouldn’t he have a Truman show
like Four fan club? I can’t think of a
single reason.
 |
| OMG, FOUR! |
 |
| Top of my list! |
 |
| Suspend disbelief engaged! Yes, apparently Tris can fly a pod-plane thing. |
Speaking of things done well- Miles Teller does it
well. Peter has consistently been one of
my favorite parts of the movie series, and that is owed 100% to Miles. The snark and the douchey charm are
impossible not to loathe and love at the same time. I was slightly disappointed that his existential
introspective plotline was left behind; leaving us entirely with the same old
opportunistic Peter we’ve always known.
I’m seriously hoping that gets explored in Ascendant.
 |
| Word! |
That said; let’s have some quick quipped convo about the
direction and misdirection some characters were taken in.
 |
Hey, at least they killed Tori, right?
 |
| To die? |
Caleb, you started off like the Caleb I know, and you ended
the film in a completely different way.
The Allegiant movie team seems to have Robin Hooded Peter’s sort of
redemption arc, and in this story, Caleb, you are the poor. It was actually nice to watch Caleb awkwardly
stumble his way to bravery and back into Tris’ good graces.
 |
| Jail can change a guy. |
This guy- that memory serum engulfed him enough to make him
forget how annoying he is, right?
 |
| Why doesn't she love me? |
Nita, I adore you and your downplayed role. Here is to serving your purpose and nothing
more!
 |
| Let's stir some shit up! |
This Norman Bates side-part guy was seriously creeping me
out. Whether it was lurking in a corner
and staring, or using his oddly soothing voice to spy on Tris while she undressed
and got cleansed, he was freaking me the hell out. But he saved Four so it’s all good.
 |
| It's pretty creepy. |
Amar…
 |
| Exactly. |
We all loved David, right? The dumb and dumberest smart guy around, of course he thinks he is doing the right thing. Naturally, he is totally evil.
 |
| Seems legit. |
Alright, I could do this all day really, but I have other stuff to do, like work, that makes me money. I do want to touch on the aspect of the technology, though. Flying pods, floating lifts, and pure city were just a few of the new additions to the film that fell a bit flat.
 |
| WTF is happening here? |
I get it, these people have the technology to genetically engineer humans, and so they should have had more advanced types of other technology than what we saw in the novels, but floating people pods, really? The exception to this rule was the droid tech, now that was fun!
 |
| I'll have one, thanks. |
Pure city sounds like an awful boring place, by the way. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments.
