THE DARKEST MINDS (2018)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Mandy Moore, Bradley Whitford, Patrick Gibson, Harris Dickinson, Skylan Brooks, Miya Cech, Gwendoline Christie
RunTime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 2 August 2018

Synopsis: When teens mysteriously develop powerful new abilities, they are declared a threat by the government and detained. Sixteen-year-old Ruby, one of the most powerful young people anyone has encountered, escapes her camp and joins a group of runaway teens seeking safe haven. Soon this newfound family realizes that, in a world in which the adults in power have betrayed them, running is not enough and they must wage a resistance, using their collective power to take back control of their future.

Movie Review:

Based on the first book in Alexandra Bracken’s best-selling young adult trilogy with the same title, The Darkest Minds is a relatively intense action movie with an adolescent forced to carry the weight of a power that could change the fate of the world although all she wants to do is to lead a peaceful life. 

If the premise sounds familiar, that is because it is pretty much the cookie-cutter plot that has been used in various young adult series (and would-have-been series) ranging from the highly successful The Hunger Games series to the I Am Number Four flop. The movie also appears to recognise and, perhaps even celebrate, how derivative it is with two lead characters likening their roles to those of the lead characters in the Harry Potter series. 

An exposition-heavy prologue establishes the premise of the dysfunctional world that this movie is set. An outbreak of a highly contagious disease that targets only children has left only 2% of the world’s children alive. The surviving children have now developed various forms of powers and have been shipped off to camps, either with or without their parents’ knowledge, in a bid to cure them. Except those camps are really just to isolate the children and make them slaves to the government which systematically kills off the most powerful kids that have been colour-coded as “Reds” and “Oranges”. 

Has the disease also left adults infertile? Why does there seem to be no more children born after this? Why do parents allow the government to take their children away from them for years? If the children have powers ranging from superior intelligence to mind control, why do they not take over the world instead? 

The movie conveniently avoids answering any of these and other logical questions as it focuses only on the journey of the lead character, Ruby Daly (played by Amandla Stenberg, a “The Hunger Games” alumnus). Ruby, who wakes up one day to find that her mother no longer recognises her, is shipped off to one of those camps at the age of 10 and escapes six years later with the help of a seemingly kind doctor, Cate (played by Mandy Moore). Through a strange coincidence, Ruby ends up travelling with a trio of runaway teenagers/children who collectively represent other powers and other ethnicities. There’s Zu (played by Miya Cech), the young Asian who doesn’t speak and who harnesses electricity; highly intelligent Chubs (played by Skylan Brooks), an African-American boy who serves as navigator as he is “able to read any map” and lastly, Liam (played by Harris Dickinson), a Caucasian young adult who has the power of telekinesis and stirring Ruby’s heart with his awkwardly cute attempts at courtship. 

As the group set out to find a rumoured paradise run by fellow children survivors and safe from the government, they bond as a family of sorts. The young actors’ performance are outstanding enough that you find yourself caring for them and somehow believing that they can grow into caring enough for each other to the point of being willing to put their own lives at risk for each other in the span of a few weeks. Stenberg’s Ruby has the right amount of vulnerability that is balanced by a determination that makes you sympathetic towards this overwhelmed heroine who is simply trying her best. She and Dickinson have a sweet and shy chemistry that fits two young persons who probably never been in a relationship before but are clearly attracted to each other.

For a director who has only worked on animated films prior, Jennifer Yuh Nelson does a commendable job of having the story unfold at a comfortable pace. She also finds time to put in intriguing visuals, such as a shot of a sprawling parking lot filled with empty and abandoned school buses, that gives you a peek and clues you in on what the world has become without the presence of children. 

The Darkest Minds is not bad as a movie with a standout young cast (but very forgettable adult actors). However, by virtue of its plot and characters being cookie-cutter, you find yourself recalling similar elements and scenes in earlier movies. This greatly reduces the pleasure of watching this movie as you end up knowing exactly what to expect during the movie’s most intense or moving moments.

Movie Rating:

(Worth a watch for its outstanding young cast who will engage you emotionally. Just don’t go in expecting an original plot)

Review by Katrina Tee