Heroic, tough and hot ‘Insurgent’ features very watchable Shailene Woodley

From left, Theo James, Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley star in “Insurgent.”

By Colin Covert

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

The Young Adult dystopia derby races on. This week “Insurgent” moves ahead as the front-runner in action sequences, while “Mockingjay” retains its lead in spoken romantic interludes. Will Tris and her five divided “factions” soon seize bomb-scarred postwar Chicago? Or can Katniss cross the finish line first with her District 13 rebellion against the power elite in glamorous Panem? Will those lioness roars from Katniss top Tris’ Tinkerbell whispers?

At this point, the adaptations of Veronica Roth’s adolescent “Divergent” novels and Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” are near-duplicates in all but the smallest details. Oppressive governments forced the heroines of each series to enter a homogeneous social cult. (Tris hardly fits as she’s a “Divergent,” a rare mixed breed with equal amounts of intelligence, bravery, compassion, honesty and sacrifice.) Each is a defiant girl who has broken free from her bloc, joining a fearsome rebellion against the ruling class. Both fight a bit through arguments and a whole lot with science fiction weaponry. Each pursues romance with someone facing difficulties like her own.

At least Tris (played by the eternally watchable Shailene Woodley) gets hunkier eye candy and hotter kisses. When the fighting pauses, she and warlike love interest Four (Theo James) cross into more interesting territory. In private. Wearing much less combat gear. No wonder Woodley and James won the Favorite Movie Duo award at this year’s teenage People’s Choice Awards. To many teenage viewers, their kissing and cuddling will top the series’ repeated views of its characters jumping aboard speeding trains. Woodley was also nominated for the same prize with her other “Divergent” co-star Ansel Elgort. Girl has skills.

In this chapter, totalitarian leader Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet, meaner than the Nazi war criminal she played in “The Reader”) aims to force Tris to open an impenetrable trunk concealing information about their society’s future.

In her second outing as Tris, Woodley proves she can work her way through plausible fight scenes yet maintain control of the familiar character. At 23, she passes perfectly for a 17- or 18-year-old, not just with her porcelain features, but through a sense of emotional sincerity most futuristic kid-oriented genre films lack. Whether she is hiding peacefully alongside Amish-style vegetarians at the beginning, feeling heartbreaking personal loss, or falling to earth from rocket-scarred Chicago skyscrapers, she stays sharply focused.

Director Robert Schwentke delivers all the story’s loud, heavy, glass-smashing fight scenes with the force of a gut-slammed buzz saw. Woodley’s plentiful action scenes grow until near the climax she leaps through giant windows and across the skyline like Spider-Man’s big sister. Despite such ludicrous moments, she helps give the film a fine artistic sheen.

She’s not the only skilled actress in the cast. Naomi Watts steps in as a dangerous frenemy, but Woodley is hard to steal a scene from. In long, handsomely framed close-ups, Schwentke recognizes her ability to raise the bar in every shot, translating random dialogue into tidbits of poetry. Whether she’s furious for revenge or pensively melancholy about her late family’s suffering, you feel for her, too.

Woodley understands how to be heroic and tough at the same time. Near the climax, where she’s pushed into a rock-’em-sock-’em fight with her identical equal, I liked her so much in each role I hoped both would win. Watch out Katniss, your competition is hard as nails.