Insurgent Review: (no spoilers, I promise)

Some friends and I recently went to the movies to watch the new movie ‘Insurgent’, the second movie of three based on the trilogy ‘Divergent’ by Veronica Roth.

To be perfectly honest, I hated the first movie (Divergent). Although it followed the storyline well, I thought the actors did a poor job of portraying their characters. It felt like the actors hadn't even read the book. I mean, Four (one of the two main characters) in the book was absolutely terrified of heights (I'm talking paralyzing fear here guys), and Four in the movie was supposedly afraid of heights, but when he came to be on a rail, high above the city, he seemed to have no trouble dealing with the situation and crossing to the adjacent building, no worries. I found this more than mildly irritating, to say the least.

However the second movie (Insurgent) I absolutely loved!! This time the movie followed the storyline more loosely but I felt the actors did a much better job of reflecting the characters in the book! They had a great main cast in Shailene Woodley and Theo James.

Shailene Woodley did an amazing playing Tris. I felt like her connection to the character deepened in this movie compared to the last one. Her passion and intensity were definitely amplified. There were so many moments during the movie where I felt connected to her, and her story. BRILLIANT!!

The ever-gorgeous Theo James was also excellent. I was particularly bothered by his portrayal of Four in the last movie, but in this one I thought he was much improved. I felt like he didn't do quite as good a job as Shailene, just because she was so amazing in this movie! Don't get me wrong, he played his character incredibly well. But Four is more of a reserved, stoic, stand-off ish kind of character, so his acting required less obvious emotions.

I thought the story was well written, although it didn’t follow the book exactly, it covered all the important parts while still including new twists and exciting drama. All in all a MUST SEE movie. But as always you should definitely read the books first. An excellent trilogy, I personally struggled with the ending, but that’s another story for another time.