The Divergent Series Imprint Films - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (AU Import)

Divergent
Overflowing with mostly nonsensical ideas about autonomy and free will while imagining itself as a dystopian sci-fi epic about a controlled society, Neil Burger's Divergent inundates the audience with possibilities for something better and exciting. The grand, and admittedly imaginative, spectacles of a seemingly peaceful civilization hiding behind a stories-high wall that surrounds a ruined Chicago are unfortunately nothing more than a pretty mask concealing a lack of genuine understanding of the ideas the plot sporadically touches on. Granted, the target audience isn't likely expected to dwell on the thought-provoking notions when a budding teen romance takes center stage, but the potential for something meaningful that young adults can chew on is there, buried beneath quick, easily digestible Hallmark-like quotes about being true to oneself.

Based on the popular YA trilogy of the same name by Veronica Roth, the film foresees a future devastated by war, and survivors have established a society divided into five factions. In a story where these disparate groups work towards a common goal, it's interesting to think their designations expose the plot's various internal inconsistencies. Abnegation are the selfless caregivers with governmental powers, but, as the movie demonstrates, every character is motivated by selfish desires. Why there's a difference between them and the commune, hippie-like Amity is never explained. The Candors are a forthright people that never lie, yet certain, rather important details in the plot are continuously kept a mystery. Dauntless is the brave security faction with weak members constantly living in fear while the Erudite funnily demonstrate the little intelligence to be found anywhere in this tween actioner.

Plunged into this needlessly overly complicated and discrepant universe is Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley), a heroine we're meant to believe is gifted and intelligent to excel in any faction, but just dumb enough not to be skeptical or question authority. When kids reach a certain age, they partake in a city-wide aptitude test that determines which group they will belong to, and we follow Beatrice as the rest of her life is decided for her. By the way, this is where the endless contradictions quickly become a gross distraction: excelling in the exam is a bad thing according to the plot because it means a person doesn't belong to any of these childish cliques, called "Divergents," which is not the same thing as the destitute "Factionless." But that doesn't matter because in the end, every kid is allowed to pick their faction in a meaningless ceremony, regardless of the exam's results.

At this point, it's clear director Burger (The Illusionist) and his team have chucked logic off a speeding train, much like the stupid Dauntless soldiers, and we're only fifteen minutes into the movie's 139-minute runtime, which diverges further into irrationality as the story progresses. Never mind that no one ever explains specifically why or how a Divergent is a threat to the system when, given the structure of it all, they would actually be the most beneficial. What matters is the Erudite leader Jeanine (a boringly dull Kate Winslet looking suspiciously like Hillary Clinton), planning a coup d'état so that she can launch her fascist regime. Her reasons are riddled with a variety of fallacies and ultimately born of a trivial understanding of simple concepts. She fashions a violent takeover and attempts genocide in order to establish peace? She wants to eradicate one faction's will to power while at the same time forcefully imposing her own on others?

In a movie that supposedly encourages critical thinking, free will, and independent thought, Divergent goes to great lengths to demolish those very lessons, mainly because the actions and motivations of the characters make little sense. It's frustrating figuring out how our heroine is a threat to a supposedly rigid system that offers choice, yet one faction's leader illogically wants to overthrow it for another rigid system that still caters to an individual's choice, in spite of the results of an aptitude exam. All the while, Beatrice discovers a sense of self, finds love in her instructor Four (Theo James), and learns that being Divergent is a good thing, but fails to explain it to the audience. Even if some viewers choose to overlook these glaringly bad aspects, they must still contend with the fact that the plot is a blatant cross of The Hunger Games with the Harry Potter series, evincing that the plot is not so divergent after all. (Movie Rating: 1/5)

Divergent: Insurgent
Insurgent is the product of a new type of filmmaking that historically started with James Cameron's Titanic but has been progressively worsening since the box-office giant that is the Twilight series. It's a type directly targeted at a specific demographic and audience that more often than not guarantees high returns against its investment, essentially making it critic proof. And I'm not simply generalizing YA books adapted into movies, familiar stories with an established fanbase, because Ender's Game and The Giver didn't exactly satisfy expectations. Meanwhile, the Harry Potter and Hunger Games films successfully defy the discussion, but the Transformers franchise and Fifty Shades of Grey are further evidence of what I'm trying to arrive at. The larger issue at hand is a seemingly growing generation of moviegoers who care little for narrative quality or development and want it replaced with hyperbolic melodrama or amplified fantasy that feels like a thrill ride attraction. (Jurassic World also falls into this category of bad movies, so be warned of future reviews.)

This second installment in the Divergent franchise, based on the surprisingly popular books by Veronica Roth, picks up minutes after the first movie. Or, at least, that's what we are led to believe. After Kate Winslet's voice, playing the leader of the Erudite faction, Jeanine Matthews, is heard from a prominently displayed hologram message that insinuates a new totalitarian state, Tris (Shailene Woodley), Four (Theo James), Peter (Miles Teller) and Caleb (Ansel Elgort) are seen running out the woods to the Amity compound in the hopes of finding sanctuary. There, Tris is confronted with the bodies of those who've died for her. But we're soon given respite from this nightmarish scene when it turns out the entire sequence is, in fact, a nightmare from which Tris quickly awakens. In protest to her bad dreams, the young heroine decides to cut her hair short. It doesn't make any sense, but hey, what's the point of inciting a rebellion if you don't look good in the process? Besides, this dystopian future apparently still has access to a good hairstylist.

But let us not quibble over such silly details like who Tris's barber is with the talent of making blond highlights appear natural or how great it must be to live in a post-apocalyptic Chicago with mousse, hair gel and a blow dryer readily available. The larger issue at stake here is a movie and story practically littered with false promises, red herrings, and MacGuffins. Sequences like that gotcha opening are not the only time the filmmakers pull the rug from under the audience with an emotional fake-out. Director Robert Schwentke, who's given us a few respectable features along with the god-awful R.I.P.D., reverts to cheap tactics on several occasions, practically littering the entire movie with such deceptive schemes. This only succeeds in negating the plot's emotional core: Tris dealing with the amount of violence and death surrounding her so-called specialness. We don't care or sympathize with the protagonist's dilemma because she can simply wake up at any given moment from a bad dream, rendering whatever internal conflict we just witnessed entirely moot.

By the time we finally reach the moment when Tris performs the Sim trials, we're drained from the constant back and forth between reality and Tris's imagination. We get it; she needs therapy. But seriously, among the ruins of the city with an abundance of hairstylists, there isn't at least one therapist for treating the poor girl's obvious psychological issues. And if the first movie already failed to make any logical sense, the sequel amazingly expands on its illogical premise and frankly grows dumber. A mysterious box (designed by the same person who created Pinhead's puzzle box?) has been discovered, and of course, only one person can miraculously open it to expose a secret message from the founders of the five-faction society. (The voice of Dana Carvey's Church Lady would appropriately interrupt here with her thoughts.) On top of this, we are made to contend with several senseless betrayals, absurdly contradictory double-crosses, and characters being once angry with each other but soon forgotten without a single apology ever spoken or a reasonable conversation shared.

From a script by Brian Duffield, Mark Bomback (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), and producer Akiva Goldsman, Insurgent is a terrible piece of motion picture entertainment that makes little to no logical sense with a cleverly disguised disdain and mistrust of intelligence and rational knowledge. And don't tell me it doesn't, because, especially considering the author's public declaration of faith, we need only look at the plot's enemy: a group dedicated to the pursuit of intellectual knowledge and understanding. Added to that, we have a story arc riddled with distractingly contrived coincidences and much-too-convenient plot devices to ever be believable or feel remotely authentic. Naomi Watts's character is arguably the biggest offender. And this is precisely the problem with this increasingly popular type of filmmaking. As long as it looks pretty on the screen, the action is made overtly exciting and characters grossly melodramatic; narrative failures and the lack of logic go ignored. An intelligent and genuinely gripping story is a thing of the past in the post-apocalyptic future, replaced by bigger, louder action and histrionics. (Movie Rating: 0.5/5)

Divergent: Allegiant
Much like the previous two entries, The Divergent Series: Allegiant arrives with even more nonsensical, head-scratching confusion that only succeeds in bloating the franchise's original premise. The production feigns complexity where simplicity is more than adequate in moving the plot. Granted, the story by four writers who took inspiration from the final book in the series by Veronica Roth make the attempt in explaining the initial problem of the first movie: how is being good at everything, known as a "Divergent," a threat to the five-faction society? At one point, Jeff Bridges pops up to literally shrug off that question, "I don't know who told you being different was a bad thing", as if to almost literally address dissenters of the franchise. But his elaborate explanation only poses more questions, creating a philosophical and scientific conundrum that ultimately makes the entire franchise a complete absurdity and a waste of time. If Bridges's character is a voice for Roth and the filmmakers, then Shailene Woodley's confused Tris serves as a stand-in for the puzzled audience when hearing all this: "But that doesn't make any sense."

Perhaps, a major problem with this two-part finale is that filmmakers have done as other franchises based on YA novel trilogies, breaking the final book in the series into two ridiculously long, and consequently, exhaustive, movies. This may expand on the grimly fabricated dystopia, but it does little for making an enjoyable piece of throwaway entertainment. And in spite of having the extra time, the movie still feels oddly rushed and hurried. In the opening moments, we're quickly rushed through the aftermath of the previous entry's revolution and the assassination of Kate Winslet's Jeanine with little time to take it all in. Evelyn (a rather stiff and cold Naomi Watts), mother of Four (Theo James) and leader of the resistance, has now taken on the role of bureaucratic dictator when holding mock trials for the remaining opposition forces and issuing death sentences. Tris's brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) is next on the list to die. Naturally, this is going to create some friction amongst those who are not as cold-blooded, such as Tris and her small band of warriors, as well as those choosing to follow Octavia Spencer's more pacifist approach. 

So, now we have the dawn of a revolution threatening to destroy all of Chicago, which we're led to believe is the central focus since it's barely been explored, but it's soon consigned to factionless subplot turf when Tris and company scale over the wall into red uncharted territory. She's followed by Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, and Maggie Q like puppies begging for a few scraps of screentime. But the only actor really given anything meaty worth chewing on is Teller's Peter, who again is eye-rollingly playing Judas to Tris' blatantly Christ-like persona. (She is the chosen miracle after all.) While exploring the Mars-like terrain, being chased by Evelyn's new Dauntless henchmen and scurrying to find shelter from a rain that looks like blood, the kids are discovered by the armed soldiers of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, a spookily clandestine group led by Bridges's David. Although his role explains a few absurd details posited by the two previous installments (except he really doesn't), much of this storyline feels like a rehash of the first. Tris trusts the seemingly cordial and chummy David until convenient trivialities give her pause and raise our suspicions, discovering the promised utopia is a sham for a more sinister scheme. 

But to be perfectly honest, the intended conspiracy plot grounding The Divergent Series: Allegiant is a convoluted series of pseudoscience and faux moral controversies that ultimately make the entire franchise outrageously ludicrous. Director Robert Schwentke returns to helm this sci-fi post-apocalyptic vision for younger audiences with some moderately feeble success, addressing some of the problems of the film's predecessors by injecting it with better, more engaging action sequences. Much of this is really thanks to the beautifully glossy photography of Florian Ballhaus, eye-catching production design by Alec Hammond, and costume designer Marlene Stewart creating a realistic world that's as visually interesting as it is fantastically imaginative. But in spite of their frankly wasted efforts, the film is a joyless and soulless escapade, as if making up much of the BS nonsense while chugging along to a finish that literally feels as though it just stopped halfway into it. And from the looks of box office returns and Lionsgate's decision to cut the final production's budget by half, even allegiant audiences are growing tired of the series. (Movie Rating: 1/5)

Vital Disc Stats: The Ultra HD Blu-ray
Via Vision Entertainment and Imprint Films bring The Divergent Series to 4K Ultra HD as a seven-disc box set. Three dual-layered UHD66 discs and three BD50 copies of each movie sit comfortably opposite on three center spindles, and a seventh BD50 disc is on the last panel. All seven discs are housed inside a thicker-than-normal black keepase with a sturdy, slide-sliding lenticular slipcover. The package also includes five postcard-style art cards with the logo and name of each faction featured in the film series. At startup, all the discs go straight to an animated menu screen with full-motion images of each movie while music plays in the background.

Divergent
Dauntless groupies soar to Ultra HD Blu-ray with what appears to be the same transfer as the 2016 release, which is just meh and only offers minor improvements. Coming from a 2K digital intermediate, the upscaled HEVC H.265 encode is quite dull and pretty uneventful, looking similar to its HD SDR counterpart in terms of clarity and resolution. Granted, the video shows slightly better definition throughout, but it's not a night-and-day difference and doesn't deliver much of a visual impact. 

Although squeaky clean and generally spotless, the HDR10 presentation is noticeably restrained while favoring an orange-teal palette, giving the picture a welcomed cinematic appeal but still looking pretty lackluster and bland. Contrast wavers somewhat from scene to scene, ranging from spot-on to humdrum, which makes much of the presentation appear flat. On the other hand, specular highlights can be intensely brilliant and vibrant, supplying metallic edges with a nice glistening sparkle. Sadly, brightness levels are generally murky and grayish with passable shadow details. Colors seem affected by the intentional look and feel of the cinematography, but overall, they look full and accurately rendered. Only, the palette still lacks some pop and vibrancy, something that doesn't look made for SDR displays. Facial complexions often appear flushed and sickly but not entirely disagreeable with faces looking healthy in several moments. 

But in the end, the 4K HDR is noticeably limited, making this UHD a passable upgrade with some noteworthy reservations. (HDR10 Video Rating: 70/100)

Insurgent
The dystopian sequel incites a factionless rebellion on Ultra HD Blu-ray with the help of a strong HEVC H.265 encode, which comes from a 2K digital intermediate, but the results are not a night-and-day difference over the Blu-ray. As with the first movie, the upscaled 4K transfer displays great definition and clarity of background information, exposing the small threading and stitching in the denim outfits, and viewers can make out every flaw and imperfection on the crumbling ruins of Chicago. The stylized photography of Florian Ballhaus also arrives with spot-on contrast and crisp specular highlights that occasionally pop. And brightness levels provide full-bodied blacks with good gradational differences and shadow details although there are several murky, slightly washed-out moments. Presented in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio, the HDR10 presentation showcases a vibrant, richly saturated array of colors, especially the lively and animated secondary hues throughout. Overall, facial complexions appear natural with lifelike textures and a healthy rosiness in the cast. It may not be a massive upgrade, but the 4K presentation is nonetheless an improvement. (HDR10 Video Rating: 72/100)

Allegiant
The third installment ziplines across a desolate landscape to land on Ultra HD with what appears to be the same excellent HEVC H.265 encode as the previous release. delivers plenty of noteworthy improvements that make this a significant upgrade over the BD. Unlike its predecessors, the encode was sourced from a 4K digital intermediate. It may not compare to some of the best UHDs available or deliver the visual impact that we've come to expect of the format, but this native 4K transfer is quite stunning and highly revealing, showing razor-sharp details from a majority of the runtime. Viewers can plainly make out the scratches, imperfections and pockmarks on the collapsed buildings, concrete rubble and the metallic ships of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, giving the movie and this manufactured dystopia a bit of personality and some sense of history. 

The HDR10 presentation boasts a spot-on and well-rounded contrast and brightness balance with superb visibility in the far distance. Brilliant, crisp whites make the film really pop and burst off the screen while the specular highlights of the clouds in the sky sparkle with radiance, giving each puffy nebula a vivid, immaculate distinction. Blacks could be a tad stronger, but they are nonetheless rich and full-bodied with excellent shadow details, providing the 2.40:1 image with dimensionality and a wonderful cinematic appeal. Although lightly restrained, favoring warmer amber hues, the overall color palette is richly saturated and lively throughout. Healthy facial complexions show lifelike textures that expose every wrinkle and negligible blemish in the faces of actors. (HDR10 Video Rating: 84/100)

Divergent
The dystopian YA sci-fi actioner lands in home theaters with an impressive and demo-worthy DTS:X soundtrack that maintains a good deal of the action in the front soundstage, generating a highly engaging wall of sound and exhibiting sharp detailing in the mid-range. Imaging is terrifically broad and expansive with lots of background activity that exhibits superb clarity and differentiation between the softest and loudest segments without the slightest hint of distortion. 

The object-based mix also displays outstanding channel separation and movement across the entire screen with marvelous off-screen sounds while maintaining precise, well-prioritized vocals in the center. Both action sequences and quieter dialogue-driven moments come with effects that discretely move into the heights, creating a highly engaging half-dome effect. And the music of Junkie XL also takes advantage of the extra leg room, nicely bleeding into the heights and sides. The surrounds and overheads are employed often with subtle atmospherics, like the wind blowing high above in the trees and through the empty building or the voices of other Dauntless soldiers echoing and resonating all around, generating a satisfying dome-like effect. The low-end is strikingly powerful and responsive with a couple authoritative, wall-rattling moments while also providing substantial weight to the many electro-style songs. (DTS:X Audio Rating: 96/100)

Insurgent
The sci-fi sequel rebels with the same action-packed Dolby Atmos soundtrack as the 2016 UHD release. Imaging feels wide and expansive with lots of clear, flawless movement across the front soundstage, displaying terrifically well-balanced channel separation and very good off-screen effects. Dialogue is distinct and precise in the center with exceptional intonation in the voices during the most dramatic moments. There's plenty of excellent detailing and fidelity in the mid-range, exhibiting room-penetrating highs during loud action sequences and lots of warmth in the mids during the many melodramatic, often heated exchanges. A powerful and authoritative low-end digs deep into the lower depths, rattling walls and the couch while providing the action with some serious weight. Rear activity is fantastic with several discrete effects and many subtle atmospherics continuously employing the surrounds. Various debris noises smoothly pan overhead and all around, creating a highly satisfying and enveloping hemispheric soundfield. (Dolby Atmos Audio Rating: 94/100)

Allegiant
The sci-fi sequel marches into home theaters with the same excellent Dolby Atmos soundtrack as before. For much of the runtime, the overhead speakers are not given much of a workout, which is not to imply they are not used or don't impress a little from time to time. A handful of scenes come with subtle ambient noises that occupy the space above the listening area, but they are far and few in between. Of course, during the action sequences, especially those with the Bureau's flying aircrafts, various sounds fluidly and convincingly pan from the front of the room to the back and overhead. A variety of discrete, well-placed effects take better advantage of the sides and rears, engulfing the listener with a few bits of exciting action. 

However, the presentation leaves a much better impression in the front soundstage where imaging feels broad and spacious with lots of excellent panning effects, creating a splendidly engaging half-dome wall of sound. Dynamic range and acoustics are sharply detailed and discrete, allowing for the tiniest clump of debris from explosions and the minute fragments of a wreckage to be distinctly heard flying across the screen. As with the previous two, the low-end is plentiful and weighty, providing action sequences with a few amusing wall-rattling thrills. Dialogue is precise and well-prioritized above the ruckus and mayhem. (Dolby Atmos Audio Rating: 94/100)

For this UHD edition, Via Vision ports over the same set of supplements as the previous UHD releases but adds a bonus seventh disc with more special features and five art cards. All three UHD discs only contain their respective movies while the accompanying BD copies house the movie plus the special features. 

Divergent Blu-ray

• Audio Commentary with director Neil Burger
• Audio Commentary with producers Lucy Fisher and Douglas Wick
• Bringing Divergent To Life (HD, 47 min)
• Faction Before Blood (HD, 15 min)
• Music Video (1080i/60) Ellie Goulding performs "Beating Heart"
• Deleted Scenes (HD)
• Still Gallery (HD)
• Trailers (HD)

Insurgent Blu-ray

• Audio Commentary with producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher
• Insurgent Unlocked (HD) is a basic PiP track
• From Divergent to Insurgent (HD, 5 min)
• Anatomy of a Scene (HD, 4 min)
• Divergent: Adapting Insurgent to the Screen (HD, 4 min)
• The Others (HD, 4 min)
• The Peter Hayes Story (HD, 3 min)
• Marketing Gallery (HD, 1080i/60)

Allegiant Blu-ray

• Audio Commentary with producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher
• Building the Bureau (HD, 12 min)
• Finding the Future (HD, 11 min)
• The Next Chapter (HD, 8 min)
• Characters in Conflict (HD, 6 min)
• Book to Film (HD, 5 min)
• Battle in the Bullfrog (HD, 4 min)

Bonus Blu-ray Disc

• Beyond the Initiation (HD, 20 min)
• Simulations: The Next Level (HD, 20 min)
• Faction Fashions (HD, 19 min)
• Veronica Roth: Tell All (HD, 18 min)
• Into the Fringe (HD, 11 min)
• The Escape: Over the Wall (HD, 10 min)
• Insurgent in Style (HD, 9 min)
• Unlocking a New Look (HD, 8 min)
• Setting the Score (HD, 7 min)
• Composing Allegiant (HD, 5 min)

In my humble opinion, The Divergent Series is a perplexingly absurd franchise with an equally perplexingly absurd premise. The filmmakers attempt to answer some of the problematic aspects of the plot's concept in the sequels, but in the end, the result is still a sluggish trek through nonsensical pseudoscience that abruptly stops halfway into the third installment, literally ending on a cliffhanger because of the misguided decision to split the final chapter into two films ala Twilight and Harry Potter. Courtesy of Imprint Films, all three movies arrive on Ultra HD with excellent 4K HDR10 presentations and top-notch object-based mixes (the first with a DTS:X track while the other two have Dolby Atmos). Along with the same collection of supplements as before, a seventh disc houses a few more bonuses for fans to enjoy. Overall, the UHD package is worth checking out for fans and for the curious.

All disc reviews at High-Def Digest are completed using the best consumer HD home theater products currently on the market. More about the gear used for this review.