Based on Veronica Roth's best-selling novel (the first in a trilogy followed by "Insurgent" and "Allegiant"), "Divergent" does not entirely break free from its YA-literature origins, but is confidently helmed all the same. Convoluted though the premise is, director Neil Burger (2011's "Limitless") and screenwriters Evan Daugherty (2012's "Snow White and the Huntsman") and Vanessa Taylor (2012's "Hope Springs") believe in the story they are telling and spin it cohesively—sometimes at the expense of some wished-for thematic ambiguity. There is a lot to think about regardless of the film's tendency to explain itself rather than let the natural progression of the story pave the way, but the tenacity of the ensemble, led in no small part by the tremendously expressive Shailene Woodley (2013's "The Spectacular Now"), is what keeps one watching.
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