DVD REVIEWS

THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT

(out of 4) Erudite, Dauntless, Candor, Abnegation and Amity — who talks like this, unless they’re looking for a triple word score in Scrabble? Let’s just call the factions of The Divergent Series what they really are: Brainiacs, Bruisers, Blowhards, Big Hearts and Beatniks.

But it’s best not to think too much about this dystopian youth sci-fi franchise, which in the second chapter Insurgent feels slightly more urgent.

Freed of the dull necessity of introducing main characters, the film pushes its best assets: rising stars Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Theo James and Ansel Elgort, in that order. They all act their talented little hearts out, which ain’t easy when you’ve got a committee-written script that is expressly designed to milk this overwrought story for all its worth.

As rebel inhabitants of a fenced-in and fascistic Chicago of a postapocalyptic future, they’re on the hoof from the genocidal power plays of Kate Winslet’s scheming Erudite leader Jeanine, who has great fashion sense for a despot. She wants to rub out a small but influential band of nonconforming Divergents — which here means “dangerous free thinkers” — for fear they might upset the social order.

Under the businesslike direction of franchise newcomer Robert Schwentke ( Flightplan, RED), Insurgent has more action than last year’s debut film, which was modestly titled Divergent. Action is what you want in a picture such as this, when you don’t have a lot on your mind.

Extras include hours of making-of featurettes and producer commentaries. Peter Howell

Insurgent pushes its best assets: rising stars Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Theo James and Ansel Elgort, in that order