Unlike the terrible trailer for “Insurgent,” the trailer for the latest installment in “The Divergent Series” is, at least, colorful. As it begins, Tris (Shailene Woodley, “The Fault in Our Stars”), Four (Theo James, “Golden Boy”) and the rest of their team skirt a desolate, computer-animated countryside that resembles Mars. It contrasts strikingly with the antiseptic green of the ship where they are rescued. It’s possible to get wrapped up in the drive of the trailer, to fall for its quickly building intensity and even some hints of the story. One character mentions that the children of this new colony have grown up surveilling the main characters, a potentially intriguing idea.
Then you tune in to the dialogue, including such gems as “People think walls separate us. But they also protect us,” “They’re trying to destroy us” and Jeff Daniels’s predictable assurance that Tris is “the only one” who can help rebuild society. To understandably cynical viewers, the montage of images featuring flying spaceships, people running in panic and scenes of Tris and Four’s obligatory romance will feel completely by-the-numbers.
“The Divergent Series: Allegiant” is a terrible idea for a movie to begin with — it’s based only on the first half of Veronica Roth’s YA book “Allegiant,” by far the most boring half-book in the series — but if it balances its shameless info-dumps with thrilling action, it could manage to at least be a mindless, entertaining action movie. At worst, it’s another uninventive Y.A. adaptation that will be forgotten quickly.