Diverge

What started off as a promising premise quickly lost steam... and never really made a point

If you are looking for a hidden gem look elsewhere. Just like the Oscars movies, this one is only for the "professional" reviewers. Its fairly boring. The acting is horrendous at times. Not a good combo.

This film is about a man and his wife who are living in a post-virus-apocalypse where it seems much of the world has been rendered unlivable. Soon, the man is told by another man that he has a chance to go back in time to "save the past".

Yes you've seen this concept before, yes its probably going to feel familiar.

The film has some beautiful shots in the future, with wide shots of an endless expanse of nothingness and the clearly horrible life they are living. We are even shown a city in the distance that is surrounded by this waste, showing us that it is very likely that this is a global pandemic, with everything surrounding major city centers being obliterated. Unfortunately, we never SEE the city to see if its a ruins, if people live there, or if its safe/unsafe, and only meet a couple characters in the past. When we reach the past, its a lot of drab, gloomy, dreary mostly-shot-at-night city-life shots.

None of the actors were anything to write home about, but they did a passing job for people I've never heard of (I didnt check if they have other credits under their belt).

Theres not much to talk about to sets, the scenery (other than the 'future'), or even the plot, which is quite sub-standard. This movie could have cut 45m from its run time and made an awesome short, OR it could have added something in those wasted minutes to give some impression of care about the characters or world building or anything really, but no, we get a bare-bones plot, some shaky sci-fi, and some questions left unanswered. There is even a clever little twist at the end that ties it all together in a bow at the end (If you didnt catch it, watch the end, then re-watch the future wasteland bit at the start).

The movie is by no means BAD, I rather enjoyed it for what it was. I am, however, a glutton for sci-fi, time travel, and the hope for a new view of the genres. There are no big action scenes, no explosions, no fight scenes, no daring rescues, etc. Its a rather slow movie with a respectable sub-90m run time. If the movie trimmed the fat and added something more interesting in its place I would likely have given it several stars more! However as it stand, its a mediocre film that needed a little more OOMPF.

If you are not into slow paced sci-fi, you will probably turn it off in the first 15m. If you hang in there, there is still a pacing problem but theres more to look at than the "nothing" in the 'future'. Its worth a watch when you have nothing else on your plate!

All in all a movie that you really do have to watch in its entirety to appreciate the plot, and a movie that you have to forgive the co-stars for being somewhat cardboard in their performances. But a movie worth the time if you have an open mind and are okay with seeing a time travel movie that a) doesn't attempt to represent the methodology behind the activity and b) doesn't add those silly paradox components where people vanish or explode if they come into contact with themselves from a different chronological pathway!

At first glance this film is a pleasant little discovery. The problem is it's neither as fully realized nor as polished as it should be to qualify as that one-in-a-million-diamond-in-the-rough indie film discerning viewers search for. For my money it is not as bad, nor as great as other reviewers have suggested. But if you are tired of the usual one-dimensional mindless drivel flooding many streaming services you could do a lot worse than Diverge. I would just temper your expectations a bit. It is a low-key, intimate variation of Twelve Monkeys (or any project where someone travels back in time to avert a pandemic) although it provides some original variations of its own. It is fairly intelligent - if not as intelligent as it, or it's characters, should be. Some of the scenes feel underdeveloped as scientists and pharmaceutical big-wigs talk about the points pertinent to the plot, but do not seem to be well-versed in the science or even high level corporate manipulations. It is competently made on all levels, with believable performances all around - although Ivan Sandomire is weakest any time he has to stray from introspection. The director is to be applauded for creating some visually interesting images, managing a low budget effectively, and being brave enough to embrace a certain visual poetry. Yet at the same time the film lacks energy and momentum. It's a little too quiet for it's own good and I can forgive a leisurely pace (I am a fan of Tarkovsky's Stalker, and that is almost literally three hours in which nothing happens). It might stem from Sandomire's reserve. It might be the filmmaker's choice. I mention it as a fact, not necessarily as a criticism. I reserve my criticism for the ending, where in the interest of being "clever", the film takes the all-too common misstep for Time Travel films and stumbles into violating it's own shaky logic and ends up nonsense. With all the effort and good intentions expended by the writer/director up to this point I am disappointed he didn't recognize this (and a few other moments) for the flaws they imposed on his work. But if you are the type of viewer who can accept a twist or surprise for it's own sake then I doubt it will distract you as it did me. There's a lovely little poetry to it - I'll grant you that. It just makes no sense. Overall I wish the film could have done more with all it's potential, but it's a film I will say kind things about to my friends, and they all know how critical I can be.