Is this the worst movie of the year so far?

Although it won't be released in New Zealand for another month, the next movie in the Divergent franchise, Allegiant, is already getting slammed by movie critics overseas.

So far the film, based on the popular young adult sci-fi novels by Veronica Roth, has received a dismal 12 per cent approval rating from reviewers on the website, Rotten Tomatoes.

In comparison, the two previous films in the series, Divergent (2014) and Insurgent (2015) received 40 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively.

Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Naomi Watts and Miles Teller star in the franchise's third movie which critics have deemed "boring" (Guardian) and "disappointing"(Flick Filosopher), and with a plot that "instead of bringing much-needed clarity, piles on yet more bamboozling mythology to flummox and confound." (Empire).

Independent wrote that "the finale here is about as exciting to watch as an office party on a paintball outing." While Variety noted: "This first half of the artificially split two-part finally may diverge from Veronica Roth's source material, but doesn't necessarily solve its problems."

"Miles Teller is brilliantly typecast as a mouthy douche-bag that no one likes," wrote Time Out. The List took a dig at the film's leading lady: "Woodley ... struggles with a character that, unlike Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games films, is getting less interesting with each passing movie."

Hollywood Reporter simply summed up The Divergent Series: Allegiant, writing: "More like redundant."

Most of the reviewers gave Allegiant only one or two stars out of five, however, it wasn't all bad. One reviewer from Times UK wrote that the film was "increasingly ambitious and unashamedly entertaining," and gave the movie four out of five stars.

The Divergent Series: Allegiant is set for release in New Zealand cinemas on April 14.

- nzherald.co.nz