Divergent
Summit Entertainment | Release Date: March 21, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
24
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerMar 19, 2014
The strength of Burger’s movie is the fact that a non-reader of Roth’s work can enjoy Divergent and not be confused by any aspect of the storyline. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianJoLene Krawczak Mar 20, 2014
While Burger, Daughtery and Taylor skimp on the characters’ interior lives, they do make some surprising improvements on the book. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanMar 19, 2014
Woodley, through the delicate power of her acting, does something compelling: She shows you what a prickly, fearful, yet daring personality looks like when it's nestled deep within the kind of modest, bookish girl who shouldn't even like gym class. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 20, 2014
Director Neil Burger (“Limitless”) has crafted a popcorn flick that’s leaner, more propulsive and more satisfying than the bestseller that inspired it. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 20, 2014
Divergent is less action-oriented than "The Hunger Games" but no less compelling. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonMar 20, 2014
What about those who haven’t read the book? Divergent, the movie, still offers a smart, spunky, sympathetic heroine, a hunky love interest and a sobering if rather obvious message about the value of being true to oneself rather than mindlessly conforming. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMar 20, 2014
A sequel needs to hit the ground running faster than Divergent does. Find more notes for Woodley's elegantly plain face to express. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKevin McFarlandMar 19, 2014
The ultimate irony is that a series predicated on diverse individuals rising up against totalitarian regiment falls so completely in lock step with all other post-apocalyptic young-adult franchises. Read full review
67
The PlaylistTodd GilchristMar 16, 2014
Because there’s some genuinely great ideas in the film, and some terrific character work, but it’s given such uneven attention, alternately languished upon and glossed over, that the portrait Burger creates feels complete without, well, making us feel a whole lot else. Read full review
65
Film.comJames RocchiMar 19, 2014
Over-plotty, convoluted, full of unanswered questions and unquestioned assumptions — is a big part of the problem here, but director Neil Burger (“Limitless”) pulls off a neat trick here, in that Divergent is a pretty diverting piece of moviemaking pulled from a not-especially-good story. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireMar 21, 2014
Woodley, though, by virtue of the sheer likability of her presence, keeps you hanging on, keeps you rooting for her. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigMar 20, 2014
Despite two strong lead performances and a welcome dose of female empowerment, this somber tale feels too familiar and formulaic. Read full review
60
Total FilmJames MottramApr 7, 2014
Loyal to the novel, but welcoming enough for newbies, Divergent does a decent if not jawdropping job of bringing its dystopian world to life. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraMar 31, 2014
Smart, tough and a little bit cool, this is an intriguing opening rather than a slam-dunk in its own right, but the cast - and especially Woodley - make it sufficiently diverting to merit a place in the action franchise ranks. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 21, 2014
If you can forget what it’s saying, Divergent is fairly entertaining. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMar 20, 2014
It's an acceptable, play-it-safe version of the first volume in the hugely popular Veronica Roth-written trilogy. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMar 20, 2014
At almost 21/2 hours, Divergent is repetitiously brutal and drab, with sets that resemble warehouses and industrial junkyards; the action rarely emerges into the daylight before the climactic gun battle. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 20, 2014
Woodley makes Tris easy to root for — only she and Winslet seem to be having any fun — but it's hard to become invested in the convoluted, rambling story. And at two hours and 19 minutes, it rambles for a while. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 20, 2014
Divergent is almost good enough to make you forget what a cynical exercise it is on every possible level. The original 2011 young adult novel by Veronica Roth — reasonably engrossing, thoroughly disposable — reads exactly like what it is: an ambitious young author’s attempt to re-write “The Hunger Games” without bringing the lawyers down on her head. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 20, 2014
This society makes no sense except as a metaphor. The social layout of Divergent was supposedly devised so as to maintain peace, but putting people into airtight factions guarantees conflict. Read full review
50
The DissolveGenevieve KoskiMar 20, 2014
At 140 minutes, Divergent is too bloated to be consistently exciting, but it’s relatively agile between its many exposition-dumps, at times resembling an actual action movie more than a pro-forma adaptation. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMar 19, 2014
The bestselling first book in yet another dystopic Young Adult series, Veronica Roth’s Divergent is engrossing enough to devour overnight, and flimsy enough to forget by morning light. Neil Burger’s film adaptation faithfully reproduces the same effect. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 19, 2014
The generic bulk of Divergent hits its marks and moves on. Read full review
50
New York PostLou LumenickMar 19, 2014
Divergent is a clumsy, humorless and shamelessly derivative sci-fi thriller set in a generically dystopian future. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 18, 2014
Divergent, the latest outcast-teen-battles-The-System thriller, is similar enough to “The Hunger Games” that hardcore Katniss fans may dismiss it. But it’s a more streamlined film, with a love story with genuine heat and deaths with genuine pathos. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEric HendersonMar 16, 2014
The film transcends the déjà vu of its borrowed trappings but ironically sacrifices all momentum in favor of a long series of physical tests. Read full review
45
NPRMark JenkinsMar 21, 2014
Director Neil Burger, whose last divergent character was the smart-drugged protagonist of Limitless, allocates more than enough of this overlong movie to details of life and society in future-Chicagoland. But he fails to make any aspect of the premise persuasive. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 3, 2014
The more you scrutinise the society Roth and these screenwriters have created, the more it seems a chintzily self-designed dystopia whose rules and entire infrastructure are pure cardboard. Read full review
40
The GuardianTom ShoneMar 22, 2014
How Orwellian is college? Very, if Divergent is to be believed. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMar 21, 2014
One would be better off experiencing Woodley via her heartbreaking turn in last year's "The Spectacular Now," a drama that actually has more to say about nightmarish cliques and individuality than any lackadaisical slide into future schlock. Read full review
40
TimeMike RyanMar 21, 2014
For a film that supposedly celebrates freethinking, there’s a woeful lack of it here. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMar 20, 2014
Too bad this would-be heir, Divergent, is so unimaginative and bland. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 20, 2014
Ms. Roth’s prose style is good enough and Tris appealing enough that, at least in the book, it’s easy to breeze past the plot holes. It’s harder to ignore those flaws in the movie, partly because the director, Neil Burger (“Limitless”), gives you little to hang onto — beauty, thrills, a visual style. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonMar 19, 2014
It'd be easier to root for lead Tris's (Shailene Woodley, the go-to girl for drab roles with grit) quest to escape her Abnegation roots and those ghastly gray skirts to prove herself a worthy Dauntless if director Burger felt committed to the concept. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenMar 16, 2014
Director Neil Burger struggles to fuse philosophy, awkward romance and brutal action. Even with star Shailene Woodley delivering the requisite toughness and magnetism, the clunky result is almost unrelentingly grim. Read full review
40
VarietyAndrew BarkerMar 16, 2014
By trying to cram in as many explanatory info dumps as possible, Burger neglects to tend to the elements of the film that could easily make up for any narrative deficiencies: namely, a sense of place and a feeling of urgency. Read full review
38
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 20, 2014
Except for Kate Winslet's fearsome turn as a villain, the only terror Divergent roused in me was that the drag-ass thing would never end. Sorry, I'm a Candor. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 20, 2014
In all candor, and with all the amity I can muster, Divergent is as dauntingly dumb as it is dauntingly long. Read full review
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