The Darkest Minds has officially become one of my favorite teen sci-fi movies; within the first few seconds of the film you automatically drawn into the mystery and by the end of the movie you’re left wanting more.

The Story 

The movie starts with off in an elementary school cafeteria setting, where the first innocent child dies from an unknown force that has taken over her body. And within months, more and more children die. However, the children that don’t die are left discovering a whole new world where they can’t trust any adults. Basically, even child in the nation suddenly has developed new forces/superpowers without any sort of explanation. Each child has a different level of superpowers, some stronger than others thus making the adults seriously afraid.

The fear of these abnormalities has driven the government to put all children in camps, where they are treated worst than criminals. They are also divided and labeled based on their powers. The least powerful and considered safe to approach are the green, the children in the green category have been granted extreme intelligence, they excel at numbers and math. They are brilliant. Then there is blue and yellow, these kids tends to have supernatural powers like telekinesis where they can move objects and the ability to create electricity with their hands.  Then the worst of the worst are the reds and oranges, red’s can breathe fire out of their mouths and orange are the most extreme; they can control minds. Reds and oranges are killed off instantly.

Which brings us to Ruby {Amandla Stenburg}, she is the leading lady of the film and is the second to last remaining child with orange powers. The only reason she has survived all the way to the age of 16 is because she has used her powers to lie and manipulate doctors into thinking she is a green. However, once it is discovered that she is an orange, they plan on killing her. However, Cate {Mandy Moore}, who is part of league of adults against the government helps Ruby break free and escape. However, Ruby is afraid of trusting any adult so she ends up joining three other kids as they try to make their way to EDO ( the secret place that is safe for children.)

As they make the trip to EDO, Ruby becomes best friends with Zu {Miya Cech}, Chubs {Skylan Brooks} and ends up falling in love with Liam {Harris Dickinson}. The four become a family, they beat off trackers and make their way to the “safe place.” However, once they arrive to EDO, they come to find that it is run by the President’s son, Clancy Gray {Patrick Gibson}. The only other remaining orange besides Ruby. The only difference is, Clancy uses his powers for evil.

The four than have to try to escape EDO and Clancy’s powers, which ends up being a war between the two remaining oranges.

*SPOILER ALERT*

In the end, the group of four is forced to separate. Chubbs is sent to the hospital with severe burns from the final battle, Zu is off with the league, and Ruby uses her powers to erase herself from Liam’s memory in order to protect him while she joins the League as their  champion against the government. All in all they set it up for a sequel, because Clancy is still alive and the children are not cured.

The Cast 

One of the unique aspects of The Darkest Minds is the ensemble of diversity within the cast. All four actors had such great on-screen chemistry and were very believable.

Starting with Ruby played by Amandla Stenburg. It didn’t take long as a viewer to get behind her as the lead. Her facials were incredible and was on point during all her major scenes from the romantic parts to the action parts. it was great to see her character develop from an innocent unaware young girl to a young woman ready to lead a battle. She gave off Shailene Woodley in Divergent and Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games vibes.

Then there was Liam played by Harris Dickinson.  He and Ruby had great on-screen romantic chemistry. It was innocent, funny and the ending was very heartbreaking for the couple.

The comedic relief of the group was Chubbs played by Skylan Brooks. He was the green in the group, He did a great job finding a balance between being a protective, funny and nerdy character.

The youngest of the main four was Zu played by Miya Cech, she was a yellow. A small innocent child with a larger than life superpower. She didn’t have many lines, but was immediately loved as a character in the movie.

Last Thoughts 

To be honest, this movie blew my expectations out the window. I truly did not think I would enjoy it as much as I did. I even got emotional towards the end! I think this is a great movie for all ages, it’s entertaining and has everything you could want in a teenage sci-fi action film. From the romance, friendship and action it’s a blast to watch.

 

The Darkest Minds is out August 3rd!

 

 

 

THE DARKEST MINDS Official Channels
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.TheDarkestMinds.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/DarkestMindsMovie
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/DarkestMinds
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/DarkestMinds
#TheDarkestMinds