Starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James. Rated PG. Now playing.

In the world of Divergent, for which Insurgent is the second of three planned sequels, the postapocalyptic city of Chicago is divided into five factions based on personality: the smart, the brave, the kind, the honest, and the amicable. To create peace, these tribes rarely interact; to maximize their potential, each is assigned a particular industry. 

As an inspiration for costume design, the faction system is wonderful. Louise Mingenbach’s designs go beyond mere colour-coding and introduce tailoring as a form of being; in particular, the softly cheerful layers of Amity contrast brilliantly with the severe elegance of the single-button, double-breasted evening coat worn by Candor.

As science fiction, the faction system rivals midi-chlorians for a maddening derailment of storytelling.

The unworkability and undesirability of the system, which is obvious upon the slightest reflection, is an absurd conceit meant to highlight the specialness of “divergents”: folks like our Dauntless heroes Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James), who cannot be fully described by a single attribute. In this fantasy, rulers discourage versatility and flexibility. No one understands these teen rebels; what’s next, they have to make their beds? Eat their vegetables?

Of course not: they have to play video games! Or, in Divergent talk, undergo Aptitude Tests. Using chemicals and machines that create a simulated reality, Tris is forced to undergo stressful psychological trials.

One improvement over Divergent is that these scenarios are now much more expensive, with terrific wave and particle animation. The other is that Dauntless, now fully converted to being the thugs of the villain faction, Erudite, merely jackboot from place to place, rather than climbing, leaping, and screeching through New Chicago as though in a lifelong Mountain Dew commercial.

Shailene Woodley, a standout even in a cast loaded with terrific actors, handles the action with aplomb. She has a harder task making watchable cinema from the numerous scenes in which Tris histrionically self-flagellates with guilt, even though her saga thus far has been free of any actual choices.

At least she’s got speakable lines, unlike poor Kate Winslet, who is assigned the task of being a malicious intellectual who never does or says anything clever, wise, or witty. She’s just a plot explainer.

There’s an excellent reason why real video games call these moments “cut scenes”.