A Book Fan’s Thoughts On The ‘Divergent’ Trailer

So the first trailer for Summit’s new film Divergent was released last night, and having read the book, I am pretty excited about the movie adaptation. Here are some of my thoughts after watching those brief few minutes of footage (obviously, there may be some spoilers below!):

http://youtu.be/LUe2chuZVIo

1. The trailer seemed to capture the main character Tris, played by Shailene Woodley (The Descendants, The Spectacular Now), quite well. As I read the novel, I couldn’t help but compare Tris to a certain protagonist of The Hunger Games, plucked from what seemed like a backwards post-apocalyptic society and thrust into a world that looks more similar to our own.

2. Kate Winslet’s character, Jeanine Matthews, seems to have been made more prominent in the film. Again, I am only basing this on the trailer, but it made her look like a major character in the film, while in the book she had a fairly small role. It could be that Winslet is the most recognizable actor in the film, so the trailer focuses on her a bit more than it should. From what I hear she’s much bigger in the sequel, Insurgent, but I haven’t gotten to that one yet.

3. The continuity seems to be fairly consistent with the novel. Some of the quicker scenes in the trailer (Tris jumping from the rooftop, the knife taking the tiny slice of her ear) were pivotal moments in the book, and the emphasis on them in the trailer makes me think they will remain important moments in the storyline.

4. The setting and scenery seem perfect. The story takes place in Chicago after something has happened to most of the world , and the people of the city work together to keep society going. From the few shots of scenery in the trailer, it seems they kept true to the book’s description of the buildings, especially the long, rocky hallways of Tris’ eventual home.

5. Yes, this story has the cheesy romance of Twilight films, but they kept it to a minimum and mostly downplayed it in the book as secondary to the plot. The trailer seems to push the possibility of romance, but that’s probably just to attract a certain demographic.

Overall, this trailer got me more excited for the film, and now I will probably start reading  Insurgent tomorrow. It should be a fun film to follow as we get closer to its release in 2014.

Now it’s your turn, what did you think of the trailer!?