As Ohio temperatures begin a downward trend, Dayton International Airport is preparing to begin new flights to its newest getaway destination: Punta Gorda, Fla.

“Allegiant is known for providing affordable flights to many popular destinations,” said Airport Director Terrence Slaybaugh. “By offering this new flight to Punta Gorda, Allegiant is able to give travelers even more options at the Dayton International Airport when they want to get away.”

The first flight from Dayton to Punta Gorda will take place at 8:33 p.m. on Thursday, November 17, so there is still plenty of time to book tickets and escape the frosty air.

The inaugural flight will be sent off in the traditional DAY airport manner, with balloons, refreshments and giveaways for passengers, along with a water cannon salute from the airport’s fire engines.

“We like to send off new flights in a fun way,” Slaybaugh said. “It’s our way of letting passengers know they are a part of something special at the Dayton Airport.”

The new nonstop flights will operate twice weekly out of Dayton.

Flight days, times and the lowest fares can be found only at Allegiant.com. Allegiant is known for its low-cost leisure travel. The company provides customers with low base fares averaging nearly half the cost of the average domestic round-trip fares.

The first installment of the two-part finale of the Divergent series is here. But is it a post-apocalyptic masterpiece or a dystopian dud?

KEY CAST MEMBERS: Shaliene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q., Naomi Watts, Miles Teller, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Jeff Daniels, Octavia Spencer and Bill Skarsgård

WRITER(S): Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken and Damien Chazelle (screenplay); Josh Campbell and Matthew Stuecken (story)

DIRECTOR(S): Robert Schwentke

WEB SITE: http://www.thedivergentseries.com/

60 SECOND PLOT SUMMARY (OR AS CLOSE TO THAT TIME AS ONE CAN MAKE IT): The first of the two part , big screen finale adaptation of the Hunger Games Divergent novel series, Allegiant finds our hero Tris (Shaliene Woodley) and her fellow renegade boyfriend Four (Theo James) ready to venture outside the walls of Chicago. No, not Wrigley Field-loving, deep dish pizza Chicago – this is dystopian, the Cubs finally won a World Series and hell-has-frozen-over Chicago. The evil Jeanine (formerly played by Kate Winslet) has been defeated, but a new potential has risen her place in the form of Four’s mother Evelyn (Naomi Watts), who is warring with Johanna (Octavia Spencer) and her new Allegiant group (the old faction system has been taken down). Caleb (Ansel Elgort), meanwhile is preparing to stand trial for his alleged crimes under Jeanine’s rule ….

While they wish to save Caleb, Tris, Four, Christina (Zoë Kravitz) and Peter (Miles Teller) also have their eyes on a greater journey: Venturing outside the walls to discover who has contacted them and saying they are needed. They soon discover that the man who has been calling them is David (Jeff Daniels), the director of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare who explains to Tris how and why the faction system ever came into existence in the first place.

But what she doesn’t know is the true nature of David’s plans for the future … And how she is the key to unlocking them all.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST? Shaliene Woodley and Theo James fans; people who absolutely love the first two films and/or the book series enough to want to see the final two films

WHO WON’T (OR SHOULDN’T) LIKE THIS MOVIE? Jeff Daniels and Naomi Watts fans; Hunger Games fans who feel Divergent detracts from that series; people who hate films with poorly constructed dialogue and/or spotty acting; just about anyone not covered in the groups that will like this film

SO, IS IT GOOD, BAD OR ABSOLUTELY AWFUL? A movie series that started off strong and has continued to peter out of steam with each installment, the best thing about Allegiant is that its release means there’s only more film to go in the Divergent series. And if that sounds harsh, there’s a reason: It should – because Allegiant is really just not that good.

Poor Theo James. It must be hard being the only actor fully committed to a movie littered with weak, junior high-level dialogue, lackluster efforts from Jeff Daniels, Naomi Watts and what is easily Miles Teller’s worst performance in eons (yup, even worse than that superhero movie from last year that we shall not speak of) and a plot which is executed in a muddled, unexhilirating fashion.

As the Hunger Games series wore on, it did lose a little intrigue each time, but at least it never felt as stale and anti-climatic as the Divergent series has. Woodley, like many of the characters now, unfortunately just feels like she’s along for the ride instead of leading these excursions and the adults have a very obvious going through the motions feel from start to finish. Having not read the books, I cannot obviously say with certainly if they are less muddled than the films, but Allegiant is so jumbled up that by the time you reach the climax, you’re already over it. That may come as bad news since this film is the first of the two-part finale, which has a LOT of work to do to make its villain seem truly threatening and its heroes, well, heroic. For this paint by numbers affair is loaded with tired tropes (the love conflict story, the guy who isn’t what he seems at first, the former coward that does something to redeem himself by acting unselfishly) that if they are this bland in the novel – which is not the same as the story here (it’s true, Google it!) – then one would have to wonder how the Divergent series can hope to offer up anything fresh.

You’d be better off being allegiant to a better to a better teen dystopian series … Or just embracing the apocalypse altogether.

OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):

Dayton to Punta Gorda, Flights Starts Nov 17th

McCoy on Movies: The Divergent Series: Allegiant

The first installment of the two-part finale of the Divergent series is here. But is it a post-apocalyptic masterpiece or a dystopian dud?