The teen dystopian book adaptation trend continues with a vengeance in Insurgent. This tricky middle tome of the Divergent series, where (seemingly) lots happens with an impressive crash, bang and wallop on screen, unfortunately has to work hard to avoid simply treading water.

Angry Divergent Tris (Shailene Woodley) is ready to take out duplicitous Erudite ice bitch Jeanine (Kate Winslet) and take down the broken faction system alongside her Dauntless allies. The plot’s a bit stretched out, but good performances and the series’ impressive production value mean it’s a serviceable stopgap before the real action of Allegiant.

It’s clearly a sequel segue – the revelation at Insurgent’s denouement sets the audience up for more of a story next time. There’s satisfaction to be had, however, from committed villain Eric (sturdy Jai Courtney) and the duplicitous Peter (Miles Teller, sarcastic gold), as well as Woodley’s efforts.

RATING: 3/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet, Theo James, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Jai Courtney, Naomi Watts

DIRECTOR: Robert Schwentke

WRITERS: Brian Duffield, Akiva Goldsman and Mark Bomback (screenplay), Veronica Roth (novel)

SYNOPSIS: Divergent Tris must lay her demons to rest in order to lead her allies in an attack against Erudite leader Jeanine in an attempt to bring down the broken and oppressive faction system of futuristic Chicago.