Unfortunately, [director Neil Burger] succeeds despite the screenwriting by Vanessa Taylor and Evan Daugherty, and not because of it.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 9, 2024

There have been far more compelling metaphors for the trials of adolescence.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 15, 2022

This slick-looking, but shallow slice of sci-fi features a certain amount of Harry Potter-esque HufflePuff...

| Mar 8, 2022

Divergent is Hunger Games light, but Woodley and James bring some heat to the leads and it's fun watching Kate Winslet sneering her way through a villainous role.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 1, 2021

Falling victim to the same problem of many science-fiction or fantasy epic startups, the story is 90% introduction.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Dec 4, 2020

It doesn't help that the music by Junkie XL is overwrought and dominating in the worst of ways.

| Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 6, 2020

Despite a good lead performance, what we have is a glossy shell but not much underneath.

| Original Score: C+ | Jul 21, 2020

It is glaringly obvious that the movie version of Divergent is influenced by the success and popularity of The Hunger Games and sadly this underwhelming film did not deliver.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 16, 2020

Bland, clunky, and lifeless.

| Original Score: C- | Jul 8, 2020

I was bored.

| Apr 27, 2020

It's like Hunger Games, meets Enders' Game, meets every YA book you've ever read.

| Mar 26, 2020

Divergent suffers in comparison to Hunger Games. But when judged alone, Divergent makes a strong case for the entertainment value of an empowered young female hero attempting to survive and resist in a dystopian society.

| Mar 11, 2020

A possibly compelling idea gets lost in the mire of trying to be appealing to a core audience that doesn't want to work hard for narrative reward.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 29, 2019

The film is more interesting than the average bad movie precisely because it so gratuitously, and even thematically, fails to fit together.

| Aug 28, 2019

This is a rite-of-passage film, with action, romance and self-realization woven in. But unlike some others of this genre, Divergent is thought-provoking teen sci-fi.

| Aug 14, 2019

Saved by Woodley and James' performances, Divergent has every trope a teenage fan could ask for, and not much else.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 17, 2019

Divergent is chock-full of holes, but Woodley and her bright band of co-stars try valiantly to save the day.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Apr 3, 2019

The story is told in a much too clinical fashion.

| Mar 7, 2019

Divergent doesn't have the same mass appeal, but it doesn't make it any less impactful than the best that this genre - the science fiction genre, not the young adult subgenre - has to offer.

| Feb 5, 2019

While I can't recommend "Divergent" to anyone not already fans of the novels, I will say I'm interested in where this series goes.

| Feb 1, 2019