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The Divergent Series: Allegiant - Part 1 | 2016 | PG-13 | - 2.5.4
In this second sequel in the trilogy about a future where everyone is a member of a genetically-produced faction, rebellious teens (Shailene Woodley and Theo James) lead a small group to escape the wall that surrounds Chicago. Once outside, they learn shocking truths while not knowing who to trust. Also with Jeff Daniels, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Zoe Kravitz, Daniel Dae Kim, Octavia Spencer and Naomi Watts. Directed by Robert Schwentke. [2:00]
SEX/NUDITY 2 - A dimly lit decontamination chamber shows a woman as she removes her vest with her back to the camera (we see her bare back and upper buttocks); the camera pans closer when she turns around, and then we see her full body standing in heavy shadows and facing the camera (we can see her silhouette with no details). Several women wear scoop-neck tops that reveal a little cleavage throughout the film. Two close-ups reveal moderate cleavage as a woman walks by.
► A young man and a young woman kiss for several seconds and embrace in a couple of scenes.
► A teen girl sits on the lap of a shy teen boy in a small aircraft and says, "Hands to yourself, or I throw you out." A young man flirts with two young women, smiling and calling out, "Hello, ladies!"; one of the young women tells him to back off.
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VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - Soldiers land hovercraft in a village and begin capturing children to take to a government area as parents shout in protest; a soldier runs after a father and son to question them and another soldier falls with the father down a flight of stairs, shooting and killing the father (we see blood on the man's face) and we see the child receive a breathing mask with orange gas that causes him to lose all his memories. At a large trial and execution, a man shoots a handgun toward the camera and the camera cuts to a dead man on the floor with blood on his neck, arm and hand (his head is obscured). A gunshot from off-screen hits a young woman at the top of a wall; she falls dead, eyes open and we see a little blood on her stomach. Two teen girls with rifles, disk drone target-finders and high-tech headsets hunt down soldiers; the girls shoot often and their rifles produce circular force field shields as they shoot and we see several soldiers fall dead (one is knocked out by a disk, and another man runs in fear).
► An angry crowd cheers and waves fists at the questioning of a traitor and a man injects truth serum into the defendant's neck (please see the Substance Use category for more details); the crowd chants loudly "Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!" as a man points a handgun to the back of the defendant's head, and we see the shooter's face as we hear a shot, and then a long shot of the victim being carried away by two men (no blood is seen) and the crowd cheers more loudly for another man brought out and an official injects that man's neck with truth serum.
► We see hundreds of dead men and women lying on stretchers in lines on the grass and we hear that they were unarmed.
► A teen boy shoots a woman and she falls to the floor, holding her side (no blood is seen) as the teen opens the door and points a handgun at a former friend, who points a rifle at him and he runs away. Soldiers from two rival factions shoot at one another and run away, with no casualties. A young man pulls a handcuffed teenager out of a holding cell and takes him outside as the captive shouts, "Don't let them kill me!"; soldiers with rifles drawn chase the two young men as the first young man pushes the second young man into a ditch and fires a handgun three times after him (the soldiers leave and the second young man stands up, unharmed).
► A young man on a hovercraft hears from his guide that he will be killed and the first young man fights several men with kicks, punches, knives and guns, taking knives and guns away from the men; guns discharge and we hear the clanking of metal against metal as knives slash, the pilot and co-pilot die and slump, several other men fall dead and we see some blood; the aircraft dives and crashes into a pile of rock debris, bounces and lies on the ground, charred and smoking (the young man and his guide crawl out with their faces scratched and the first man's arm cut and bleeding). A young man in a holding cell fights four guards, using punches, throws and kicks until three men grab him, choke him, subdue him and throw him to the floor (his face is shown cut and bleeding). A teen boy is release from a cell and he fights four men with punches and kicks, rendering them unconscious, and then stomps the face of another man lying prone on the floor.
► Six teenagers shoot grappling hooks into the top of a high wall and scale it to escape captivity in their city; one girl is shocked by electricity when trying to cut barbed wire on top of the wall and she falls back (she is not injured), soldiers chase and shoot at them, another teen rappels down the wall and sets an explosive and runs back to the wall while dodging bullets, another teen shoots at the soldiers as the previous teen initiates the explosion remotely (two soldiers fall, apparently dead) and two teens scale the wall again as the screen fills with a fireball and smoke killing the soldiers (not seen) and cutting power to the barbed wire. Five teens walk through a desert trench and two attackers in a Jeep jump over it; the teens run and shoot rifles at the jeep, causing one of the men inside to fall out, presumably dead as the group reaches a force field that opens and four hovering aircraft shoot the Jeep with electric beams, tumbling it over and over (we see the male driver with red, raw, deeply scraped facial skin later). Jeeps carrying armed soldiers hold back a shouting crowd from the open gate of a wall surrounding a city as the heavy metal gate closes, trapping the crowd inside and we see skyscrapers and short buildings reduced to skeletal frameworks with dust and smoldering debris polluting the air. A young man is locked in a cell by his mother and we see a bruise and cut with some blood on his side.
► A young woman argues with a government official, leaves the official's compound in a small rotor-less chopper, two military craft follow her and nudge the craft toward the ground, and it dives too quickly and hits the ground, bounces with sparks, hits the ground again, then takes to the sky, finally landing on a rooftop in a city where we see soldiers chasing screaming people and hear gunshots.
► A teen boy sends orange memory-erasing gas into a city after its leader refuses to complete a task and we see many puffs of smoke in the streets and blankets of the smoke spreading on the ground as people cough and run. A teen boy brings a large vault of memory-erasing gas to a woman (please see the Substance Use category for more details) who tries a small canister and breathing mask on her husband after yelling at him for beating their son frequently; she administers the canister of orange gas and slaps the man's face as he loses his memory and asks who she is.
► A young man trains with a specialized rifle that puts up a force field and with a headset that gives him data and controls four drone disks; a woman training him points a gun at his back, he turns and points his gun at her and a greenish force field appears, he then enters a training course where four dummy attackers appear and he uses drones to find them and then he shoots an arm and shoulder off each one.
► Soldiers place transparent bubbles around five teenagers and transport them to a station in the desert; soldiers take the teens to the ruins of an airport where bunk beds and cubicles have been placed for many teenagers who are training with specialized rifles and drones shaped like disks. A young woman uses a decontamination chamber, tossing her clothing into flames in an opening; a goo encases her whole body as she screams soundless and gags into the camera lens for a few seconds; the goo disappears and a shower cleans her, she sticks a hand into a small opening and receives an ID tattoo on her wrist. Five teens rappel down a cliff near a gorge and find a huge red desert world outside their city; one says, "It looks radioactive," and it rains toxic acid rain as a young man says the sky is bleeding.
► A young man forces his way onto an elevator to see his girlfriend and a government official and an argument ensues about child kidnapping and memory wiping; the official asks who the young man would choose to spare between a healthy child and an old, sick parent and the young man says he would not make the choice to which the official says sarcastically, "Good, they're both dead." At a trial of traitors, a man states that people who do not follow a leader should be slaughtered like sheep and spectators gasp and boo. A government official tells a young woman that her DNA is the only human DNA in the world that is not damaged. We hear that cities of people were walled up to keep the peace while eugenics progressed in those cities. A young man sits in a surveillance chair that places him as a hologram into scenes in a large city where a train seems to travel through him without harm in several scenes and he hears the voice of an official declare war on another official.
► A teen boy sends an empty rotor-less chopper over a high wall and through a force field to the area that is home to a government official and we see a long, high explosion of flames and balls of smoke as we hear a loud blast. A young woman armed with a high-tech rifle, headset and disk drones lowers herself into subterranean maintenance tunnels under a laboratory and runs as the hologram of a government official harasses her; he shuts off corridors with metal doors and she runs different ways until she finally reaches and shoots a generator and disables it from spreading memory-erasing fumes (the man in the hologram screams in anger in his office, miles away). A hologram depicts three tanks silently shooting heavy artillery into an area that becomes a red desert during a eugenics "Purity War" and we later hear that human life expectancy is two to three decades there. A young woman places two small devices on her temples and sees memories of her mother being rescued from a desert by soldiers who grabbed dozens of shouting children to take them to safety.
LANGUAGE 4 - 2 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 7 mild obscenities, name-calling (crazy, weird, creepy, freak, traitor, foolish, damaged), exclamations (shut-up), 1 religious exclamation (Holy [scatological term deleted]).
SUBSTANCE USE - A commercial advertises the genetics engineering drug "Perfexia" to make perfect designer children, truth serum is injected into the necks of two men and they whimper (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details), glowing memory-erasing gas is given to a child and an adult through breathing masks, and a large quantity of a liquid substance is loaded into a machine that dispenses it as gas into a city in several scenes.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Adapting to the truth, growing up, oppression, captivity, control, human rights, corrupt governments, civil war, executions, designer babies, eugenics, family, friends, love, trust, loyalty, forgiveness, making decisions, courage, sacrifice, helping others.
MESSAGE - Genetic engineering does not create peace and happy lives.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
Moana 2 - 1.3.1
Gladiator II - 2.7.2
Wicked: Part I - 3.4.2
Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. - 1.5.3
Emilia Pérez - 6.6.7
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We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.
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Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.
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We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.