The Darkest Minds - Die Überlebenden

The Darkest Minds is the latest teen sci-fi franchise alike Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight, The Host etc etc etc and alike the majority of them will never be a fully told story.

It tells the tale of a world where 90% of kids die leaving the remaining ones with a selection of super powers (For some unexplained reason). The government rounds them up and incarcerates them out of fear killing off the more powerful ones.

It follows the tale of one girl who is smuggled out and goes on the run. But who can she trust?

Personally I loved the concept, such potential! Under the circumstances a television series would have made a tremendous amount more sense as I think this is all we're ever going to see from the Darkest Minds universe.

Our leading lady is fantastic, truly stellar performance and it wasn't until late in the film I realised it was Rue from the Hunger Games (2012) all grown up. Alongside her we have the excellent Bradley Whitford, Wade Williams, Mandy Moore and Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie (Though all of them are rather brief).

One thing that struck me was the leading man Harris Dickinson, he just wasn't up to the job in any respect and felt like a weak link throughout. I can't imagine how he got the job and question castings logic with that one.

The main issue with the movie is that it's the same as the rest. What I mean by that is these teen sci-fi types take a concept and then surround it by the usual tropes that are so blatant and so excessive it damages them beyond repair. This made the film cliched beyond words and criminally predictible.

All things considered it could be worse but all the teen sci-fi tropes, the fact this is all we'll get and thus leaving us with an incomplete story and a weak leading man stopped any potential it had dead in its tracks.

Great for what it is and I see the appeal, but this is to the movie industry what pop is to the music industry.

The Good:

Amandla Stenberg

Decent supporting cast

Some very good ideas

Hearts in the right place

The Bad:

Too many tropes

Very cliched

Harris Dickinson

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Hollywood needs to go back to the drawing board on this genre

A world without kids sounds like my kind of place

The book is probably better. This YA story is derivative and generic, and it manages to telegraph who the baddie is much earlier than it means to. Amandla Stenberg is pretty good as star Ruby (she also played Rue in the Hunger Games), but the movie feels more like a cheapie you'd find on ABC Family Channel.

Even though the movie may be fast paced, and may leave out parts that were in the book... it is very interesting and the characters and acting really save the show here.

Yes, the relationships weren't fully developed like in the novel , but it's hard to do that in an hour and a half long movie. I think Harris, Amandla, Skylan, and Miya really stoke the show here.

The movie FORSURE isn't oscar award winning but the amazing feelings I got while watching made up for that! Give the movie a chance and don't listen to the Uber negative reviews! Give the movie a chance because if you do, I can guarantee you will enjoy it(:

I think they did a pretty good job. Sure it wasn't revolutionary good or didn't show anything we haven't seen but it was good on it's own. And They made me want more.

...now I'm 45 and guess what? From ET and The Gonnies to Harry Potter and Stranger Things I've enjoyed this genre of Sci-Fi/fantasy TV and movies. Nothing warms my heart more than the riteouus innocence of youth vs the cruelty and bitterness of "grown ups". Likely another serial, in the same vein of Hunger Games or Maze Runner but hey, why not? Sure give this a score of 5 if you want then complain it's not original enough or the acting isn't worthy of an Oscar! -or- Like me, smile and be thankful that someone's still making movies like this, movies that remind us of what it's like to be a kid. A kid, who dreams of special powers and a future were we get to be boss for a change! It's far too easy to pour scorn and cynicism here but I don't see you detractors doing any better. It's a solid 9 out of10 for me. Keep up the good work.