86 – Divergent:
So is Divergent the new Twilight? I remember when the latter came out back in 2008. The first film was actually not that badly received. It had its detractors even then, but the backlash didn’t come until around the time the second film was out. By that time, many of the series’ flaws had become well-known; the shallowness of the romance, the general badness of the writing, the blatant wish-fulfilment in the heroine and several downright scary implications in the story. The fact that the films and books continued to make money just increased the hate towards it. Nowadays, Twilight is kind of like how Disco was for people of the 70s; hugely popular in its heyday, but most people these days will be ashamed to admit they were fans of it. So where does Divergent fit into all of this? I’ve heard comments like “I’d rather watch all five Twilight movies than sit through one minute of Divergent”, or “still better than Divergent” when describing one of the YA adaptations that bombed. Is it because the film is one of many adaptations spawned by the success of The Hunger Games (a problem The Maze Runner experiences too)? I admittedly didn’t see it when it first came out, precisely because it looked like such an imitator. And I only watched it later to see if it was really as bad as everyone said. The fact that it’s got a spot on a list of my favourite films should tell you what I thought. Let’s press on, shall we?
Everything's Better With Bob? 