Movie Review: Divergent

Divergent is a science fiction film based on novel of the same name by Veronica Roth published in 2011. It is set on post-apocalyptic Chicago where the community is divided into five fractions - the Abnegation, Candor, Erudite and Dauntless. Abnegation runs the city while Dauntless are tasked to protect the site. The story follows Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) who's father is part of the ruling council, Abnegation. During her test, she was found to be a divergent by Tori (Maggie Q) who tells her to keep her score secrets. Then during the choosing ceremony, she decided to go with the Dauntless Faction. She then had to undergo numerous test with the other new dauntless recruits while getting to know Four (Theo James) more. While undergoing training, she see's Jeanine (Kate Winslet) who leads the Erudite factions and founds out about their impending plans. Together with Four, they went on to try stop Jeanine's plans and in return flee the city to protect themselves.

What I Like:
I haven't read the book yet so I am not sure if it follows it or not but the story is quite interesting. The scenes and the storyline kept me glued to the screen. The scenery was spectacular especially on how they depicted post-apocalyptic Chicago. The actors did great depicting their characters especially Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet.

What I didn't like:
Other than the zip-line scene, there wasn't really much action to the film. It was almost more of the evolving love interest between Beatrice and Four rather than the plight of the factions. But like what I said, I haven't really read the book.

Verdict:
Definitely a good movie. Would I watch it again, ummmm...

o/ o/ o/ o/

Movie Review: Contagion

Contagion, a thriller about a deadly disease that rapidly spread across the globe being transmitted through fomite transmission and killed millions in a matter of days. As the disease spread epidemically, a group of international doctors races to find a cure and control the paranoia that was spreading faster than the virus.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh  (Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven), the American thriller stars an ensemble cast led by Matt Damon as Mitch Emhoff, a Minneapolis man who's wife Beth (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) returned from a business trip from Hong Kong and dies but not before spreading the unknown disease along the way and even killing her son, Mitch. Meanwhile, deaths were being recorded from Asia to Europe and the World Health Organization sent Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard), an epidemiologist to Hong Kong to find out where the sickness originated. Meanwhile, Dr. Ellise Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) of the CDC sent Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet), an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer to Minneapolis to begin their own investigation as CDC scientist Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) figures out a vaccine before the disease spreads and kills more.

The movie is quite interesting but I expected more ump to the movie. The story line was easy to follow even though the movie was quite slow and could almost not be considered as a thriller. The plot lines were more involved with conspiracies ranging from biological warfare to government conspiring with pharmaceutical companies (sub-plot with Jude Law as Alan Krumwiede, a freelance journalist). Acting was excellent across the board and cinematography was amazing. But the film just did not even got near the level of expectation I had.

"The average person touches their face three to five times every waking minute... "