Witnessing a film adaption rival its novel is a gift we receive very few times in our lives. But the makers of the film “Divergent” have managed to render the most die-hard analytical Divergent fans speechless with a movie that not only surpasses fans’ laundry list of expectations but simultaneously presents itself to be a genuinely good film.

Divergent fans will be relieved to know every essential event and detail from the book is adapted into the movie in some way, which I would say is the film’s greatest success. The filmmakers were able to fit in every important bit of information the audience needed to understand Divergent’s vastly complex setting of post-war dystopian Chicago.

Unfortunately the film’s attention to detail came with a price — a two hour and 20 minute run time. This is a small price to pay for accuracy that I’m sure fans were more than willing to pay.

I will stress if you have not read the book, the movie will seem to drag on much longer than necessary, but for fans of the book it will be a great film experience.

The casting was almost perfect. Shailene Woodly being cast as the movie’s heroine Tris worked in the movie’s favor. Appearance wise she was not the first person I would have picked but the casting directors redeemed themselves with Woodly’s acting chops. Woodly naturally brings to the table a great performance of Tris, forcing us all to remember the martyr in ourselves.

The casting of the widely unknown Theo James as ‘Four’ was one of the big highs of the film. James looked just like the Four I conjured in my head —voice like warm butter and the tough love attitude that fans were hoping for. In my opinion since the film’s release, James has gained a large fan base and made millions of girls drool.

I must say the most breathtaking moment does not involve James at all, but is brought to us in the form of the zip line scene. Riding a zip line through Chicago is not something I had ever imagined experiencing, but this scene gave viewers a sweet taste of what that experience might be like. Though most of the scene was filmed indoors with green screens, the visual effects were no less than astonishing.

I would rate Divergent high on the book-to-movie scale. It was one of the few times where I felt like the director cared more about making a film for the fans and not the amount of revenue he would receive. I can wholeheartedly say I have not met a single fan of the book who was not completely satisfied by the Divergent movie. In the end isn’t that really all that matters? What really matters is that the people who made the novel relevant in the first place enjoy the experience. So congrats to the production crew and cast for getting it right, for creating a film adaptation in the purest sense of the word. Thank you for not losing sight of what is really important as so many before you have.