I had heard of Divergent earlier this year, and saw some people compare to The Hunger Games. Like The Hunger Games, Divergent is based on a popular book series

The story takes place in a futuristic and dystopian Chicago protected by a giant fence. The citizens remain mostly isolated from the outside world, and run a unique society. Everyone is separated into five factions, one of the self-less, one for the brave, one for the intelligent, one for the peaceful, and one for the honest. Everyone is born in one of these five, but when they grow up they can make a choice to defect which can’t be reversed.

A woman named Beatrice Prior decides to leave the self-less Abnegation for the brave Dauntless. However she is shocked to learn that joining Dauntless is not certain. The leaders test all the newbies to see if they are worthy with brutal challenges. Beatrice begins to feel like she doesn’t belong in Dauntless, as she learns she is Divergent which is someone who is mentally independent from all five factions. Divergents are seen as a danger to society, and the leaders of at least two factions are out to see them perish. So Beatrice not only has to worry about staying in Dauntless, but keeping her secret as well to save her life.

I heard some rather awful critical opinions of Divergent, and I actually enjoyed the movie way more than I thought. It isn’t nearly as good as The Hunger Games, but the comparison is a bit unfair. The dystopian tone is similar but I doubt anyone would have compared Divergent to the Japanese book/movie Battle Royale which shares many similarities to The Hunger Games. I also was a bit disappointed by the character of Beatrice, as while she gets stronger as the story goes on; she is often saved by Tobias. I like strong female characters, and compared to Katniss Everdeen; Beatrice is a damsel in distress.