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About Divergent
Divergent is about a dystopian society where, at the age of 16, each teenager is forced to undergo a serum-induced psychological aptitude test. The results then dictate which of 5 factions they will then be a part of. The film follows Beatrice Prior, born into the Abnegation faction, who along with others rebel against the system they’re born into.
After I recent rewatch I started to think “what other movies like Divergent are worth watching?” Here’s our compiled list for your next science fiction marathon.
1. The Fifth Wave (2016)
Directed by J Blakeson, The Fifth Wave stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Ron Livingston, Maggie Siff, Alex Roe, Maria Bello, Maika Monroe, and Liev Schreiber. It was released in the year 2016.
The Fifth Wave is about an alien invasion of earth where the aliens use a number of techniques to easily destabilise world governments and allow for an easier take over. The techniques range from creating tsunamis and other natural disasters to taking human hosts to unleashing a flu-like pandemic. These are all done in “waves.” Whereas, the “fifth wave” is when the humans decide to fight back.
2. The Darkest Minds (2018)
Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, The Darkest Minds is a survival superhero thriller starring Amanda Stenberg, Harris Dickinson, Mandy Moore, Patrick Gibson, Skylan Brooks, Miya Cech, Bradley Whitford, and Gwendoline Christie. It was released in the year 2018.
The Darkest Minds is set in a world where a contagious kills 90% of children and leaves those who survive it with strange and unusual abilities. The surviving children are then imprison for “their own safety.” This film is about a group of children breaking out of prison and being on the run from the authorities who seek to capture and re-imprison them. If you’re getting X-Men vibes then you’re bang on. This is basically Mutants for Kids.
3. Transcendence (2014)
Directed by Wally Pfister, Transcendence is a science fiction thriller starring Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Cole Hauser and Paul Bettany. It was released in the year 2014.
Transcendence follows Dr. Will Caster, a scientist who researches the nature of sapience and artificial intelligence. He and his team work to create a sentient computer; he predicts that such a computer will create a technological singularity, or in his words "Transcendence". His wife, Evelyn, is also a scientist and helps him with his work.
What follows is Dr Caster being pursued by the anti-technology terrorist group known as R.I.F.T. and eventually the FBI. As they both seek to control the Artificial Intelligence he created.
4. Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Directed and written by the Wachowskis, Jupiter Ascending is a space opera starring Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne and Douglas Booth. It was released in the year 2015.
Jupiter Ascending is a cosmically charge movie about the rich usurping the poor and less fortunate. As the poorer planets and the poor denizens on those planets live only to serve their transhuman and alien royalty which established those planets. Planets whose organisms are harvested to produce a "youth serum" for the ruling class of alien elites.
What follows is Jupiter, a servant, and Caine, an intergalactic soldier, as they join forces to take down the royalty the rules over their vast empire of planets.
Written and directed by James Gray, Ad Astra stars Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland. It was released in the year 2019.
Ad Astra follows an astronaut who ventures into space in search of his lost father, whose obsessive quest to discover intelligent alien life at all costs threatens the Solar System and all life on Earth.
6. Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets (2017)
Directed by Luc Besson, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets stars Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu and Rutger Hauer. It was released in the year 2017.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is about a vast metropolis and home to species from a thousand planets. When this metropolis comes under threat by a dark force, Special operatives Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace which may threaten the entire universe.
7. Voyagers (2021)
Directed and written by Neil Burger, Voyagers is a science fiction thriller starring Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, Fionn Whitehead, Colin Farrell, Chanté Adams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Viveik Kalra, Archie Madekwe and Quintessa Swindell. It was released in the year 2021.
Voyagers follows an multi-generational spaceship journeying to a far away planet where its teenagers discover their personalities and emotions are being artificially suppressed. What follows is utter mayhem!
8. Ready Player One (2018)
Directed by Steven Spielberg, Ready Player One stars stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. It was released in the year 2018.
Ready Player One focuses on a futuristic world where most of humanity uses a virtual reality simulation called The Oasis. However, it is run by an evil corporation who wants to profiteer from the players. The plot focuses on a teen orphan (played by Tye Sheridan) who discovers clues to a contest which promises the winner total control and ownership of The Oasis.
9. Chaos Walking (2021)
Directed by Doug Liman, Chaos Walking stars Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, and David Oyelowo. It was released in the year 2021.
Chaos Walking follows a young man who lives in a dystopian world without women, where all living creatures can hear each other’s thoughts in streams of images, words and sounds, called “Noise”. Then when a woman crash-lands on the planet, he does everything he can to try and protect her from danger.
10. The Hunger Games (2012)
Directed by Gary Ross, The Hunger Games is a dystopian science fiction action film based on novels of the same name. It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. It was released in the year 2012.
The Hunger Games is set in the future in the nation of Panem, where a boy and a girl from each of the nation’s 12 Districts are chosen annually as “tributes” and are forced to fight to the death in ‘The Hunger Games.’
11. Insurgent (2015)
Directed by Robert Schwentke, Insurgent stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Octavia Spencer, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet. It was released in the year 2015.
The second film in the Divergent franchise, Insurgent follows Tris and Four, her Dauntless instructor, as they’re on the run. Meanwhile, thanks to the events in the first Divergent film, the five factions and the faction system as a whole are collapsing and many power players are making moves to gain overall control.
12. The Host (2013)
Directed by Andrew Niccol, The Host is a science fiction thriller starring Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel, Max Irons, Frances Fisher, Chandler Canterbury, Diane Kruger, and William Hurt. It was released in the year 2013.
The Host is about an alien race of parasites (called “souls”) that has conquered earth by taking human hosts. One human on the run, Melanie, is captured and implanted with an alien “soul” whose plan is to access her memories and learn of the location of the remaining humans without “souls” implanted in them. Eventually, however, the Melanie and her “soul” become friends and it eventually switches sides, beginning to work with the human resistance.
13. Oblivion (2013)
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Oblivion is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film starring Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Melissa Leo. It was released in the year 2013.
Oblivion focuses on a lone maintenance technician who has almost completed his mission on an Earth completed decimated from an alien war. Completely alone, or so he thought, the maintenance tech discovers woman who survived when her space ship crashed into earth. Together, they do what they can to survive and along the way they discover the truth behind the war with the aliens.
14. Mortal Engines (2018)
Directed by Christian Rivers, Mortal Engines is a post-apocalyptic steampunk film starring Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving, Jihae, Ronan Raftery, Leila George, Patrick Malahide, and Stephen Lang. It was released in the year 2018.
Mortal Engines is set more than a thousand years in the future in a post-apocalyptic world where these steampunk-looking gigantic mega cities known as “Predators” are mobile and spend their time looking to attack and consume other cities that are smaller than them for fuel and resources.
The city of London is on a rampage consuming all in its wake and apprentice historian Tom Natsworthy will do whatever he can to ensure no more innocents get hurt.
15. Allegiant (2016)
Directed by Robert Schwentke, Allegiant is a post-apocalyptic science fiction action film starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Zoë Kravitz, Maggie Q, Ray Stevenson, Bill Skarsgård, Octavia Spencer, and Naomi Watts. It was released in the year 2016.
Allegiant is the third and final film in the Divergent film series and, unfortunately, it was the last - due to the fourth film being cancelled. It follows Tris and her small group of friends escaping over the wall that enclosed Chicago. Once outside, however, they discover new truths such as learning that the creation of Chicago was just one big experiment of trying to achieve genetic purity. Gross, right?
16. The Colony (2013)
Directed by Jeff Renfroe, The Colony is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film starring Kevin Zegers, Bill Paxton, Charlotte Sullivan, Dru Viergever, Atticus Mitchell, John Tench, Lisa Berry, Julian Richings, and Laurence Fishburne. It was released in the year 2013.
The Colony is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film focusing a group of survivors who have lived in Colony 7 since the world’s temperature reached extreme temperatures due to non-stop snow. After receiving a distress signal from a nearby colony, a team of Colony 7 survivor go to check it out. When they arrive they encounter a murder scene, a less than forthcoming leader of the colony and a group of bloodthirsty cannibals.
All is not well in Colony 7, it would appear.
17. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. It was released in the year 2013.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the first sequel in The Hunger Games franchise and follows the first movie, with the storyline taking place a few months after the events of the first film. In it, Katniss gets involved in another round of Hunger Games and this is set against her constant feeling that there’s a rebellion brewing between the Districts against the Capitol.
18. Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Alita: Battle Angel stars Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson. It was released in the year 2019.
Alita is a battle cyborg who is revived by Ido, a doctor, who realises that she actually has the soul of a teenager. Alita then sets out to learn about her past and find her true identity. Meanwhile, just like all good dystopian hellscapes, there’s the constant looming threat of augmented human-cyborgs and evil corporation to keep Alita busy.
19. The Fifth Element (1997)
Directed by Luc Besson, The Fifth Element stars Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker and Milla Jovovich. It was released in the year 1997.
Set in the 23rd Century, The Fifth Element is about a cabbie, Korben Dallas, who joins forces with a beautiful orange-haired young woman who falls into his cab. They're then charged with retrieving four mystical stones essential for defending earth against the attack of an unstoppable and malevolent cosmic entity.
20. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014)
Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. It was released in the year 2014.
The third film in the Hunger Games series, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 follows Katniss closely as she’s turned into a symbol of the rebellion against the Capitol as she’s drawn into yet another Hunger Games bout.
Directed by Andrew Niccol, In Time is a dystopian science fiction action movie starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Alex Pettyfer, Olivia Wilde and Matt Bomer. It was released in the year 2011.
In Time is set in a dystopian society where each person possesses a digital clock on their arm which counts down how many hours and minutes they have left to live. Currency is also measured in time where those who work in lower income jobs are paid in less time than those who work in higher paid jobs. It’s a great commentary on the ruling class and how it lords over those less privileged.
22. Sucker Punch (2011)
Directed by Zack Snyder, Sucker Punch is a fantasy action movie starring Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino, Oscar Isaac, Jon Hamm and Scott Glenn. It was released in the year 2011.
Sucker Punch follows Babydoll, a young woman who is committed to a mental institution. As she collects items she needs to escape, she enters a series of fantasy worlds where she and her fellow inmates are strong, experienced warriors.
23. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)
Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. It was released in the year 2015.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 picks up immediately after the first Mockingjay movie. With The Hunger Games mostly behind her, Katniss heads to the Capitol with Peeta, Gale, Finnick, and other members of the rebellion – to kill President Snow.
Directed by David M. Rosenthal, How It Ends is an action thriller starring Theo James, Forest Whitaker, Grace Dove, Nicole Ari Parker, Kat Graham and Mark O’Brien. It was released in the year 2018.
How It Ends is about a former marine who tries to find his pregnant partner when the city she was in is struck by a natural disaster — which turns out to be an orchestrated manmade attack.
25. Ascendant (2021)
Directed by Antaine Furlong, Ascendant is a thriller starring Charlotte Best, Jonny Pasvolsky and Alex Menglet. It was released in the year 2021.
Ascendant follows Aria Wolf who is trapped in an elevator while her father is being held hostage by Russian gangsters. During which she comes to realise she has unusual abilities.
What do you think of these movies?
Did you think any of these movies are like Divergent?
Let us know in the comments.
