New Insurgent Movie Received Mixed Reviews From Major Critics
Summit Entertainment (Lionsgate) released their new action/drama film, “The Divergent Series: Insurgent,” into theaters today, and all the top,major movie critics have turned in their reviews. It turns out that it was a pretty mixed bag of opinions as it got an overall 43 score out of a possible 100 across 35 reviews at the Metacritic.com site.
The film stars: Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer, Theo James, Shailene Woodley, Jonny Weston, Rosa Salazar, Suki Waterhouse and Keiynan Lonsdale. We’ve posted blurbs from a couple of the critics,below.
Bill Zwecker from the Chicago Sun-Times, gave it an 88 score, stating: ” For those looking for non-stop action, pretty dazzling special effects and solid acting by the young protagonists, Insurgent will not disappoint.”
Kevin P. Sullivan from Entertainment Weekly, gave it a 75 score. He said: “Taken for what it is, Insurgent is a vast improvement over the franchise’s first installment, mostly thanks to expansion in two arenas: budget and scope.”
Kenneth Turan from the Los Angeles Times, gave it a 70 score, saying: “A more effective, adult-friendly film than its predecessor.”
Michael O’Sullivan from the Washington Post, gave it a 63 grade. He stated: “There is, however, a certain urgency to the action that will prevent most people from noticing the film’s flaws.”
Tom Russo over at the Boston Globe, gave it a 63 score, stating: “It’s a sequel that sticks to more routine territory of action, angst, and dystopian gloom — mostly a sound approach, thanks to the consistent strength of franchise lead Shailene Woodley and a mix of intended and inadvertent surprises.”
Susan Wloszczyna at RogerEbert.com, gave it a 63 score, stating: “Directed by action specialist Robert Schwentke (“Red,” “Flightplan”), Insurgent surges along with capable set pieces but less meaningful human interaction than in “Divergent.”
Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune, gave it a 63 score. He stated: “The actors are more or less saving this franchise’s bacon. Insurgent is a tick or two livelier than the first one.”
Sheri Linden from the The Hollywood Reporter, gave it a 60 score, claiming: “There’s no question that the feature is a leaner, meaner affair than its predecessor. That’s not enough, though, to counterbalance the often oppressive self-seriousness (though Miles Teller gives it a welcome shot) or to plaster over the holes in the premise.”
Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle, gave it a 50 grade, saying: “Insurgent would be a much worse movie if the good parts were all at the beginning. But they are saved for the end, and they leave the viewer with a feeling of, “Well, that was OK,” even though most of it wasn’t.”
Peter Travers from Rolling Stone, gave it a 50 grade. He said: “Surprise is lacking. Ditto humor, though Miles Teller (Whiplash), as a thorn in Four’s side, gets in a few fun licks by not staying on the film’s draggy tempo. Otherwise, Insurgent stubbornly fails to surge.”
Peter Debruge over at Variety, gave it a 50 grade, stating: “Considering that Insurgent is meant to represent the series’ great civil war, it all comes across feeling like a tempest in a teapot: a glorified rehash of what came before, garnished with the promise of what lies in store.”
Manohla Dargis from The New York Times, gave it a 40 score, stating: ” Tighter, tougher and every bit as witless as its predecessor, The Divergent Series: Insurgent — the second segment in the cycle — arrives with a yawn and ends with a bang.”
Alonso Duralda over at TheWrap, gave it a 40 grade, stating: “Take everything annoying about a cobbled-together, overly familiar YA adaptation, add the built-in wheel-spinning of a sequel, and you’ve got Insurgent, a film that works best when it places its heroine inside virtual-reality situations — at least then it has an excuse for eschewing logic and context.”
Claudia Puig from USA Today, gave it a 38 grade, stating: “This second installment, based on Veronica Roth’s series of YA novels, feels cobbled together and less focused than 2014’s Divergent, and lacks tension and excitement.”
Lou Lumenick over at the New York Post, gave it a 25 grade, stating: “You know you’re in for a long haul when Kate Winslet’s clipboard-wielding Jeanine, leader of the Erudite faction, comes off less like a Hillary Clinton than a weary Applebee’s supervisor at the end of a 14-hour shift in this plodding sequel to “Divergent.” Joe Neumaier from the New York Daily News, gave it a 20 score. He stated: “Every scene is entwined in clunkiness.”
Finally, Joe Morgenstern over at the Wall Street Journal, gave it an absolutely awful 10 score, claiming: ” Insurgent opens new horizons of repetitiveness, dramatic shapelessness, self-seriousness and a generalized oppressiveness that flows from all of the above as well as from visual clutter, cheerless color, 3-D dimness and plain old bad acting.” Stay tuned. Also, get your favorite Movie stuff, and more by Clicking Here.
