Comic-Con Hall H revealed footage from popular young adult novel and possible pretender to the Hunger Games' throne Divergent to a crowd of excited fans (and one bloke who thought he was there for Ender’s Game ).
We open in a street with high rises on either side – a group of eclectically dressed teens are running away from something.
At the front: Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Christina (Zoe Kravitz) whose flight leads them to a train station and a precarious dive onto a passing train.
In the cabin and Christina is worried: ‘Is it just me, or are they trying to kill us?’
With the train on a track high above the city the girls see a roof top. ‘They’re jumping’ Tris says as she sees fellow travellers leap the wide gap from the moving train onto the nearby roof. She and Christina follow suit and find themselves among a group of initiates
In the world of Divergent people are separated into five factions. Tris is born into the Abnegation – the selfless – but is about to find her way into the Dauntless – the brave.
Atop the roof, burly Eric (Jai Courtney) asks who will jump first – entry to the Dauntless only by is a leap of faith from the building into a dark hole below.
Tris goes first, jumps, and is caught in a net, where Four (Theo James) finds her. Mild sexual tension is apparent. Tris crowd surfs among the new crowd.
Training montage. Tris learns to box, fight with martial arts and conquer her fear via Four throwing knives at her – he cuts her ear, but she seems to vaguely like it. Tris learns to throw knives.
There’s a hint of romance, a very brief shot of Kate Winslet and more than a pinch of Katniss about the whole thing – early signs point to a very energetic dystopian romance with a kickass heroine in Woodley.
The action and the world looked promising from what we saw so whether it’ll shine in the competitive world of YA adaps may lie with the strength of its leads and whether director Neil Burger can bring the same relentlessness adrenaline he brought to Limitless .
