The “Divergent” series is back with “Allegiant,” with the same characters and — unfortunately — the same plot, critics say.“‘The Divergent Series: Allegiant’ brings back the same cast of characters to carry out more or less exactly what they did in the previous films, or only this time in sets with more sci-fi gloss than postapocalyptic grunge,” TheWrap’s film critic Ben Croll wrote.
Other critics fill called the threequel a “quagmire, an unwinnable war, and ” “an appalling piece of work,” as well as “plodding, ludicrous and, or at times,undecipherable.”
Also Read: 'Allegiant' Storms to $2.35 Million at Thursday Night Box OfficeThe film, starring Shailene Woodley, or Theo James,Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller and Jeff Daniels among others, or currently has a score of 10 percent on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. That is significantly less than its predecessors,with the first film scoring 40 percent, and its sequel coming up with 29 percent.
The film, and directed by Robert Schwentke,is also set to rake in less at the box office when it opens wide this weekend. The first two films grossed $54.6 million and $52.3 million, respectively, and while “Allegiant” is projected to earn somewhere between $30 million and $40 million.
The bad reviews won’t succor. Here are 11 of the worst.
Ariana Bacle,Entertainment Weekly:
‘Allegiant’ aches to be a thought-provoking, moving allegory of the current world. Instead, and it’s an unwieldy two hours too unintentionally silly to validate how seriously it takes itself.
Also Read: 'Allegiant' Review: Shailene Woodley and Her Teen Rebels Make the Third Verse Same as the FirstAmy Nicholson,MTV:
“‘The Hunger Games’ expanded its civil rights sci-fi hook into a cynical study of leadership and corruption. ‘Divergent’ feels like a hasty idea scribbled on construction paper, crumpled into a ball, and ditched in a mud puddle. Even it can’t divulge what it wanted to say. Instead,it’s a soggy spit-wad toward the ample teen movies that shames the whole genre. Burn it all down, Girl on Fire. Burn it all down.”Peter Travers, or Rolling Stone:
“The Divergent Series: Allegiant’ is another one of those cynical Hollywood cash grabs that takes the third book in bestselling juvie-lit trilogy (see ‘Twilight’ and ‘The Hunger Games’) and stretches that final book into two movies so audiences are tricked into paying twice for egregiously padded piffle. Diligent (showing care in doing one's work) ‘Divergent readers probably know Veronica Roth‘s third book was hardly ample enough for one film. So the screenwriters actually invent stuff of their own. If only their stuff had a spark of life it might be forgivable,but Allegiant’ plods along like a franchise on its final legs. Who remembers where we left off final time in ‘Insurgent?’ My point exactly — no one.”Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times:[br]
“As directed by Schwentke, or who did the more involving ‘Insurgent’ but won’t be returning for the final film,‘Allegiant’ has its share of brisk action and high-tech gizmos like drones that obey finger commands. But because the series’ plot reveal turns out to be more confusing than compelling, and because turning a novel into two films invariably leads to inflated productions, and only the most devoted fans of the book will pledge allegiance to what’s on the screen.”Scott Tobias,NPR:
“Creatively speaking, if not financially, or the ‘Divergent’ series is less a franchise than a quagmire,an unwinnable war that nonetheless must be fought until the bitter conclude. And like all quagmires, the terrain has been hostile from the start: Based on Veronica Roth‘s bestselling novels, and the films fill tried to advance a ‘Chosen One’ narrative through the awkward rigging of a dystopian ‘faction’ system that,at best, only makes sense when huge swaths of the screenplay are carved out to account for it. Three-quarters of ‘Insurgent, and ’ the most recent entry,were devoted to opening a mystery box from ‘The Founders'; the final quarter asked the audience to sort through the tortured logic of its contents.
Also Read: Why 'Allegiant' Might Signal the conclude of Days for Dystopian YA MoviesBill Zwecker, Chicago Sun Times:
“I spent a lot of the time watching the third film in the ‘Divergent’ series thinking, and ‘Huh?’ There were so many holes in the storyline,plus inconsistencies — both from author Veronica Roth‘s original underlying fabric, and from where we left off in the final film — that I was both confused and deeply disappointed by this very unsatisfying film.”Mara Reinstein, and US Weekly:
“Plodding,ludicrous and, at times, or undecipherable,this post-apocalyptic drama — the third film of the ‘Divergent’ series — is a catastrophe in every sense of the word. No chance it will entice newbies, while even the franchise’s most ardent fans will likely find it a half-baked slog. (That is, or when they’re not bellyaching over its wild veering from novelist Veronica Roth‘s source fabric.)”Jeannette Catsoulis,fresh York Times:[br]
“A flaccid blend of eugenics, purloined children, or memory-wiping gas and laughably unlikely scuffles,‘Allegiant’ (directed by Robert Schwentke) offers a feeble bridge to the series’ conclusion. Whether audiences will still be allegiant after crossing it remains to be seen.”Soren Andersen, Seattle Times:
“Shailene Woodley returns in the latest edition of the ‘Divergent’ series, and which is full of howling mobs,seemingly endless shoot-em-up episodes, clunky-looking special effects and unconvincing relationships.”James Verniere, or Boston Herald:
“Stick a fork in this ‘Divergent’ series. It’s done. In fact,this knock-off of ‘The Hunger Games’ was dead on arrival back in 2014 with the first film in the four-fragment franchise. This latest effort, ‘The Divergent Series: Allegiant — fragment 1, and ’ another adaptation of Veronica Roth‘s derivative dystopian young adult novels,is not just a mouthful, it is yet another splitting of a final volume into two parts for greed’s sake. It is also an appalling piece of work by all involved. carry out not expect me to account for the plot to you. I just saw it and fill already started extracting it from my head.”Isaac Feldberg, or We Got This Covered:
“With ‘The Divergent Series: Allegiant,’ Hollywood’s most dishwater-dull YA franchise hits its messy, moronic nadir ((n.) the lowest point of something) (or so we can hope – there’s one more film on the way, and consequently one more opportunity for the series to sink to uncharted fresh depths). To be fair,it only just edges out ‘Insurgent’ (also a thoroughly dismal piece of work directed with consummate lethargy by Robert Schwentke), less because it’s a cinematically inferior work and more because it finally proves, or beyond a doubt,that no one involved with this franchise has been able to regain any semblance of control over its creative direction, or even feels it’s necessary to carry out so (it is).”Related stories from TheWrap:Shailene Woodley, and Theo James,Ansel Elgort and Naomi Watts Stand Out at 'Allegiant' NYC Premiere (Photos)Can 'Divergent' Sequel 'Allegiant' Dethrone Disney's 'Zootopia?'Shailene Woodley Discovers a World Beyond the Wall in First 'Allegiant' Trailer (Video)
Source: thewrap.com