The Darkest Minds Review

Based on a novel by Alexandra Bracken The Darkest Minds is the latest young adult sci-fi film trying to chase after The Hunger Games’ success.

In the near future a virus kills 90% of the United States’ children and the reminding 10% have been gifted various abilities such as super intelligence, telekinesis and mind control. The reminding children have been rounded up, placed in camps and any children classified as red or orange are killed immediately.

Ruby Daly (Amandla Stenberg) is an orange, a girl with mind control powers, but disguises herself as a green, a child with super intelligence. Just as Ruby was about to be discovered by the military, a camp doctor, Cate (Mandy Moore) helps her escape but once free Ruby runs off with a group of teenagers trying to find a fabled safe haven.

Considering that attempt at a plot synopsis, The Darkest Minds plotting is meandering. A lot of information is dumped on the audience in the first few minutes and after a frantic opening 15 minutes it slows down into a road movie. It was erratic.

20^th Century Fox was clearly trying to cling onto The Hunger Games’ coattails but the tread in YA sci-fi films has died down. The Hunger Games series ended in 2015, the third Divergent film bombed so hard that it led to the fourth one being canceled and The Maze Runner suffered from a case of diminishing returns. YA films have turned towards dramas, romances, and dramedy and focus on more grounded stories and when that’s overplayed the YA film genre will change again.

The Darkest Mind is derivative of other stories in its genre. There is a teenage female lead who is unique and the key to liberating the nation from an oppressive government. Like Divergent and Harry Potter children and teens are split into groups based on abilities and there is a love triangle – which made me think of the Youtube Channel Terrible Writing Advice. The opening act was similar to the British horror film The Girl With All the Gifts where children are held in a military facility and treated like prisoners. The Darkest Mind also borrowed heavily from X-Men due to the focus on children who develop powers, learn how to use them and are feared by adults.

The Darkest Mind is Jennifer Yuh Nelson’s first live-action, her previous directional experience being on the Kung Fu Panda films. She worked with a $34 million budget, the same as the first Maze Runner film. There were times the budget limitation were on display. The majority of the film took place in rural America which helped cut costs and the use of powers were limited to save money.

The only real action scenes were a car chase in the first act, facing a group of runaways and the final sequence in the third act. The action was serviceable which is a shame considering the Kung Fu Panda films had some great fight scenes. The final battle was the best because the filmmakers did go full out for the super powered battle. Her greatest strength as a director came with the horror elements, especially with the introduction of the red children.

The acting is also not of the caliber of The Hunger Games, Divergent or the Maze Runner. Amandla Stenberg is no Jennifer Lawrence or Shailene Woodley and The Darkest Minds did not attract the big names like its rivals did. Bradley Whitford and Mandy Moore are perfectly decent actors but they hardly add gravitas and Gwendoline Christine’s role as the bounty hunter Lady Jane could have been written out. Wade Williams was wonderfully over the top as Captain McManus and Miya Cech was very cute as Zu, a mute child who grows attached to Ruby.

The Darkest Minds is not without merit. Compared to other YA dystopias The Darkest Minds has one unique feature – it is set in the near future instead of the distant future, making the world more relatable. The classification system based on powers was more believable than in the Divergent series because the powers the teens were random. Compare that to Divergent where people are grouped together just because of one character trait like humility, intelligence or honesty.

The YA dystopia genre has become a massive blob of sameness and The Darkest Mind was not able to break away from it. The Darkest Mind is an improvement over films like The 5^th Wave and the later Divergent and Maze Runner but any plans for a series are dead in the water.