'Blu-ray or Bust' - INSURGENT

'Blu-ray or Bust'

INSURGENT (2015, PG-13, 119 minutes, SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT/RED WAGON ENTERTAINMENT)

Oh, how I miss THE HUNGER GAMES.  Just kidding, the GAMES suck donkey gizzards.

In the better of the Young Adult Novel/Movie realm, the best of the bunch is back, and firing on (mostly) all cylinders.  This time around, Triss (the still confident Shailene Woodley of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and THE DESCENDANTS), does her best to overcome her ailing psyche; her actions of the first film are causing guilt and rash decisions (how else do you explain her chopping off her lovely tresses and thinking the pixie cut looks awesome standing straight up in the air and waving)...(like it just don’t care). 

The same cast is back (even dead people show up—what would guilt be without ghosts in the machines—literally)?  But behind the scenes, we get a new director with Robert Schwentke (RED, FLIGHTPLAN), a man that knows his way around an action film.  But the script also has new writers, and where the first tale seemed fresh and seamless, there are a few bumps along the way in the second installment of the franchise.  Thankfully, the bumps aren’t nearly enough to derail the story or distract from the action.

If I were to complain about anything, really, it would have to be ending this film on a high note.  Yeah, I know, why all the gloom and doom, jackhole?  Well, because everyone knows that the best sequels end with a note of hesitancy, of doubt, of wait-what-just-happened?-ness.  While the future looks a bit uncertain, you don’t see anyone in a tube of water, getting fitted with a robot-hand (THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK).  You don’t see anyone disfigured for life after being sprayed in the face with alien acid-blood (ALIENS).  You don’t see a guy with a chainsaw-hand being surrounded by medieval knights (you can figure that one out for yourself).  With INSURGENT, you get a big ol’ ray of sun-shinny hope.

Weird.

The effects and the sound necessitate the Blu-ray purchase, in case you were wondering.  In some ways, the effects feel more real here than they did in the first film, and those were well done enough.  Sound editing this film must have been the biggest pain in the glutes than on any other film not directed by Peter Jackson.  There are more gunshots and crumbling concrete here than in any recent film, and the attention to every detail pays off with the surround sound.  Also, the Special Features are nearly exhaustive.  The best is the comparison of the first and second films, which shows the different approach needed in order to present the best feeling of the second part of Triss’s journey.

Veronica Roth’s third book in the trilogy, “Allegiant”, is being split into two films—gee, thanks for setting that trend, frigging TWILIGHT.  The first is due next year, and the big finale in 2017.  Let us hope the story stays just as fresh during the next few years as it has during the first two films.

Film Grade: B+

Special Features: A

Blu-ray Necessary: Most definitely

T.S. Kummelman