Allegiant, part 3.1 of the Divergent series, loses steam spectacularly!

At the end of Insurgent, the second part of the Divergent movie series, members of the audience were left wondering about what lies beyond the huge concrete walls surrounding Chicago.

Allegiant, the first of a two-part movie finale, attempts to provide an answer with some intriguing twists and turns, but in the end, it fails to engage its viewers.

Tris (Shailene Woodley), her lover Four (Theo James) and three other survivors finally scale the wall for the first time in their lives. There, they discover that everything they had been taught until then had been a gigantic lie.

Chicago, as they learn, is a giant laboratory experiment that had constantly been monitored. And except for Tris, everyone else had been genetically modified.

Personally, I am against splitting books into two-part movies. In order to ‘save’ the more compelling action sequences for the second part, the first gets watered down. The first will be longer, with lesser urgency, and it can get on your nerves.

When studios think more about money (how else does one explain two-part movies) and less about their property’s connection with fans, then films like Allegiant happens.

There is no two ways about it. A good movie property has been botched up. But that is unlikely to deter hard-core fans.

VERDICT: Don’t spend 35 riyals if you are not a hard-core Divergent series fan. Four out of 10 stars.