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Divergent | 2014 | PG-13 | - 2.6.3

Sci-fi film about a future world with distinct groups of people responsible for different aspects of community life, which is thrown into revolt when it is determined that there are some among them who do not fit in. With Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, Kate Winslet and Ben Lloyd-Hughes. Directed by Neil Burger. [2:19]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A young man and a young woman kiss and she stops him before they continue saying, "I don't want to go too fast." A young man caresses a young woman's neck briefly before injecting her with a serum. A young man and a young woman hug.
 A woman wears a tight-fitting outfit that reveals cleavage, bare shoulders and back, bare abdomen and lower back. Young women wear low-cut tops that reveal cleavage in several scenes. After a fight, a young woman's top is torn and reveals part of her upper chest. A young woman sleeps (clothed) in a young man's bed (he sleeps on the floor) and he wakes her by caressing her side; we see her wearing a tank top that reveals a bit of cleavage. A young man removes his shirt to show a young woman his tattoo and she caresses it as she looks at it and he describes what it is (we see his bare back and shoulders). Young men and young women share sleeping quarters and bathrooms and we see them changing their clothes (young men are seen bare-chested and a young woman is shown wearing a bra that reveals her cleavage, bare chest, back and abdomen).
 A young woman takes off her jacket (she is wearing a dress underneath) and a young man says, "Yeah! Take it off" and then "Put it back on."

VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - Many armed young men and young women enter a compound and pull the occupants out of their homes; a man is shot and we hear the screaming of his family members (we see blood on his head as we look on his body lying on the ground. After being injected with a serum, we see many armed young men and young women marching in a line as if in a trance and riding on a train toward a compound; one young man behaves differently and a man shoots him in the head (we hear the gun shot and the thud of his body hitting the ground). A woman is shot and we see a bloody spot on her dress as she dies and a young woman grieves over her. A young woman kicks a gun out of a young man's hand and shoots him in the side (he falls to the ground moaning and we see a bit of blood).
 A man shoots at several guards in a building and they fire back; we see the man lying dead on the floor after the shooting stops (we see blood on his mouth and a young man grieves over him). A young woman is forced to her knees and three armed men surround her preparing to kill her before they are all shot dead by someone else (no blood shown). Two men hold guns on a young man and a young woman; she shoots one man in the leg and the young man and the young woman are grabbed and taken away. A woman and a young woman run and are chased by armed young men; the women shoot back at the young men and many are shot and killed (we see blood on the mouth of one young man). We see video of people being crowded against a wall and to their knees by armed people (like a firing squad); two people try to run and are shot (no blood is shown). A young man shoots several guards in an operations room and a young woman slashes one with a knife (no blood is seen). A young woman throws a knife that hits a woman's hand and pins it to a wall (we see blood and the knife sticking out of the woman's hand); the young woman retrieves the knife and holds it to the woman's throat but does not cut her.
 A man shoves a young woman off a walkway and she clings to the railing; the man gives her a choice for survival before she nearly loses her grip and two others approach to help her back up. A young man is told to stand against a wall and allow a man to throw knives at him; he does so until a young woman takes his place and the man throws a few knives nearly hitting her and the last one nicks her ear (we see blood). Three men confront a young woman and they fight; the young woman is dragged to a ledge over a chasm and is nearly pushed in before a young man intervenes and beats the other three until they relent (we see the young woman later with bloody knuckles, bruises and her top is torn).
 Several men using ropes pull something out of a deep chasm and we see that it is the body of a young man and bloody bruises are shown on his head and face.
 A young man punches a gun out of a young woman's hand and they fight with many punches and kicks; the young woman is thrown a couple of times and lies back on the floor holding a gun at the young man before turning it on herself (she is not shot and we see that she has a bloody nose and mouth).
 Several scenes depict fights between two recruits until one submits: Two young women face off and one punches the other in the face and head a couple of times until she blacks out (we see her with bruises on her face later); we see a young man being carried off the mat after a fight (we do not see injuries); a young woman is punched hard and lands on the mat where her opponent kicks her and she submits (we see the young woman's bloody nose); a young man and a young woman fight and the young woman is knocked to the mat a few times (we see her bloody nose) until the young man raises his boot over her and the screen goes black (we see her in the clinic later with bruises on her face and arms). A young woman injects a woman in the neck with a serum, then punches her (we see the woman lying unconscious on the floor).
 Young men and young woman play "war games" using guns that shoot stun darts and create the sensation of being shot by an actual bullet; a young woman is shot in the leg and she falls down moaning in pain; one group shoots at another other group and we hear the grunts and yelps of people being struck; several people are shown with darts sticking out of their chests and legs; a young man uses another young man as a shield and he is shot twice.; two young women shoot at each other and then fight (one is knocked unconscious). A woman pokes her finger into a bloody wound on a young woman's arm and we see the woman's finger with blood on it.
 After being injected with a hallucinogenic serum a young woman imagines being on the ground near a raging fire, then she is chased by a swarms of large birds (we see scratches on her face from the birds) and becomes stuck in quicksand before falling into water and swimming through tangles of growth; she then finds herself in a tank that fills with water until she is completely covered and she breaks the glass and regains consciousness. A young man and a young woman go into a fear landscape after being injected with a serum and we see them on a narrow walkway high above the ground before making their way to a building where they are trapped in a space as the walls close in on them, then find themselves in a room with a man holding a belt and threatening them and finally the young man holds a gun to a young woman's forehead, then looks away and fires (we see a body on the floor; no blood or injury is shown). A young woman hallucinates and wakes up in a fear landscape where she is chased by birds and she uses a burning branch to scare them away; she is tied to a stake and fire burns at her feet until she burns the rope that is tied around her wrists and when she finds herself in a glass box filling with water she uses her jacket to plug the pipe where the water is coming from; a young man and a young woman kiss, he pushes her onto a bed and she resists, and he holds her down and tries to kiss her until she knees him in the groin; she is then given a gun, told to kill her family and we see her pull the trigger before she wakes up.
 After drinking a blue liquid that puts her to sleep, a young woman imagines that she is alone in a room and the walls become mirrors; a large, snarling dog approaches her menacingly and she backs away until the dog charges her and she gets on her knees; the dog charges a young girl who has appeared and runs away and the young woman jumps on its back and they seem to disappear through the floor.
 A young woman stands on a ledge and is told to jump off and through a dark hole below (it's a test of sorts); she does jump and lands on a net on the other side of the hole and is unharmed and others follow. Young men and young woman are strapped into a harness and pushed along a cable that takes them sailing through holes in buildings and shooting straight down toward the ground before they pull on a brake to stop themselves just short of crashing into a wall. A young man and a young woman climb on a huge Ferris wheel and the young man appears to be afraid of heights; the young woman slips on a rung and the young man catches her before they continue. A man clangs on a metal bar to wake new recruits. A young man confronts another young man while they stand in a line; he accuses his faction of stealing food and supplies and shoves him; a young woman in the line tries to go to assist the young man being berated, but her brother stops her.
 During a ceremony, many young men and young women use a knife to cut their hands and drips of blood are dropped in basins (we see a few of the hands with cuts on them and we see a few drops of blood). A young woman gets a tattoo and we see her wince. We see many young men and young women with tattoos and piercings.
 Many young men and young women run through the streets and climb walls and girders to reach train tracks; a train approaches and as it does they each jump on board; they all then jump off the train and onto a gravel rooftop (we see some clothing torn and a bit of blood on one young woman's arm.
 Many new recruits take target practice and practice hand to hand combat in a few scenes. New recruits practice throwing knives at a wall. Many young people riding on a train jump off while it is still moving and run toward a building. People lift others into the air and pass them along on their hands.
 A young woman confronts a young man and tells him that if he comes near her she will kill him and then calls him a coward as he leaves. A young woman teases her "leader" until he moves close to her face and says, "If you want to survive, you'll keep your mouth shut." A woman tells a young woman about her brother and that he was killed for being different; she says, "We found his body in the bottom of the chasm." A young woman says, "They are gonna kill me." We hear about a war and that in order to keep peace, people are divided into factions based on their personal traits and each is responsible for a different aspect of maintaining the community. We hear that young people are put through a testing process to determine what faction they are destined for and we see many young people lined up to be tested. We hear that a man mistreated his son and it is implied that that is why the son defected from his faction. Several young men and young women talk about trying to deal with their fears. A young woman asks another young woman, "Are they trying to kill us?" after they jump onto a moving train. A young woman tells another young woman, "You have a death wish."
 We see a future world with a huge electrified wall built around a city and the rubble of war on the outside; we see a huge tanker wrecked on the ground, what used to be a great lake is nearly dry, etc.

LANGUAGE 3 - 3 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (stiffs, stiff, selfish, idiot, pathetic, incompetence, weak ones, crazy, coward, liars), 4 religious exclamations (Oh My God).

SUBSTANCE USE - A young woman drinks a blue liquid that puts her to sleep, a young woman is injected in the neck with a serum, a young man injects himself and a young woman in the neck with a serum, we see a glass capsule full of a serum that is described as causing the recipient to be susceptible to suggestion, many people are injected with what they are told is a tracking device but it is a controlling serum, and a woman is injected in the neck with a serum.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Belonging, community, family, war, conformity, power, corruption, faction system, peace, dependence, leaving one's family, truth, facts, trust, betrayal, physical abuse, giving up, preparation, control, vanity, bravery, standing up for others, hate, manipulation, human nature, weakness, confusion, fear, severe poverty.

MESSAGE - Trust yourself and face your fears.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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