THE DARKEST MINDS: Uninspired, Half-Baked YA Adaptation

Young Adult adaptations have become ever-more prominent since the first The Hunger Games swept through cinemas in 2012. Since then, we have not only had three more Hunger Games films, but also the less-successful Divergent series, the stands-on-its own-feet The Maze Runner, and even earlier this year, Ava DuVernay‘s adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time (which, despite being overwhelmingly panned by critics, actually wasn’t bad).

The Darkest Minds, based on the novel of the same name by Alexandra Bracken, is another entry to add to this canon. Here, though, instead of just overpowering governments with kids leading the way to revolution, we have a sci-fi twist: the kids all possess some sort of power, organized by color. Yeah, it’s about as ridiculous as that sounds.

Setting the Scene

The Darkest Minds begins with a devastating news report: most of the children of the world have suddenly passed away from a disease called Idiopathic Adolescent Acute Neurodegeneration (IAAN). And the children left are all “blessed” with strange and unique powers, which all fit into categories. There is green, which gives them heightened intelligence; blue, the ability to move objects with your mind; yellow, the power to create electricity; orange, the power to control people’s minds; and red, the ability to create fire. As a result of these abilities, the children are all taken from their parents and housed in facilities resembling concentration camps.

Ruby Daly (Amandla Stenberg) is one of those who survives. She soon discovers that she is an orange, and has the ability to manipulate peoples’ thoughts. Since oranges and reds are deemed too dangerous, though, and are instantly killed by the government, she convinces a guard that she is in fact a green, and is able to hide incognito amongst the camp. Soon, though, her status is discovered, and Ruby is forced to flee with her life. She discovers other runaways along the way, including a boy named Liam (Harris Dickinson), who has the power of telekinesis, Chubs (Skylan Brooks), who has the gift of intelligence, and Zu (Miya Cech), who has electrokinesis.

Romance Overpowers Dystopia

As an adaptation of a young adult novel, and mostly targeted at the adolescent age range, it’s not hard to surmise that The Darkest Minds is a lighter affair than might otherwise have been presented. The action scenes are understandably never too brutal or over-the-top as a result, and even though the synopsis itself is grim, concerning the initial deaths of millions of children, it is mostly overshadowed by the lightness of the tone itself.

Yet, such a quality is also quite often to the film’s detriment. Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who previously helmed the second and third of the Kung Fu Panda films, is clearly familiar with family-oriented fare. Yet, with a subject like The Darkest Minds, which is ripe for social commentary, the film feels unfortunately unadventurous, often not willing to go as far as it could.

For example, though the idea of teenagers with superpowers is clearly nothing new in our superhero-strewn cinema landscape (think of the X-Men series in particular), the powers in The Darkest Minds are just that: powers. There are slight hints as to what they might represent: teenage anguish, fear, and hints at segregation and discrimination based on, in this case, the fact that they are often organized by the color that their power represents.

Yet, the film isn’t nearly so concerned about any of this. Instead, after weaving through some unevenly-paced exposition, it soon settles on its central focus: a romance between Ruby and Liam. From their first encounter, what little momentum the film had in terms of its focus on a dystopian world and what that might represent is soon removed to make room for this forced connection, which is closer to what you might see in a teenage-centered TV show rather than a Young Adult film adaptation.

I’m not that cynical to think that starting a romance in a world gone mad is something unheard of. It is, after all, one of the central stories in the Hunger Games series with the love triangle of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. Yet, in that series, the romance was always secondary to the dynamics of the world itself. Whereas, in The Darkest Minds, the romance soon becomes front and center. As a result, what little interest I had in this dystopian world was soon dissipated.

Underdeveloped Characters

What might’ve helped The Darkest Minds is if the film actually allowed me to know or care about any of its characters. It is perhaps only Ruby, played by Amandla Stenberg, who coincidentally starred in the aforementioned Hunger Games as the character Rue, that has any sort of resonance. Though perhaps not as compelling as another female protagonist of a young adult adaptation this year, that of Storm Reid in A Wrinkle in Time, it can’t quite be blamed on Stenberg, as she does her best even with some truly cringey dialogue. Young women of color being the central protagonist of any film is an attribute to commend, yet even with this, the films surrounding them have to be commendable as well.

Surrounding Ruby are some far less interesting characters. Harris Dickinson‘s Liam can perhaps best be described as “attractive white male leader,” while Skylan Brooks’ Chubs is “wise-cracking black sidekick,” and Zu is “timid young foreign girl.” This is no Stranger Things group of kids, a fully-fleshed pack with distinctive quirks and flaws on the run from the government; instead, it’s more of a scattershot narrative with some one-note, throwaway characters.

Supporting the film in limited (I repeat, limited) ways, are a few recognizable faces, including Mandy Moore, who plays a doctor attempting to help Ruby, and Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie, who plays a bounty hunter that bewilderingly only shows up twice throughout the film.

Limited and Unimpressive Action

In a film about kids with powers, one would expect that at least the action scenes would be full of energy and excitement. One would be wrong. Perhaps due to a lower budget than a lot of larger blockbusters, the action scenes of The Darkest Minds are limited or uneventful, with the only exception being a loud, explosive scene towards the film’s climax.

Coming in unexpectedly, this scene finally shows what kids with superpowers could do if they fought back against an oppressive government. Rather than save the film, though, it’s but a sign of what it could’ve been. At this point, it’s too little, too late.

Conclusion: The Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds isn’t so much a huge disaster of a film as it is one that fizzles out. It brings some potentially daring concepts, but builds them to nothing, with not even its action scenes being a saving grace. Unfortunately, Jennifer Yuh Nelson‘s young adult adaptation will be one of many lost amongst a sea of like-minded films.

What are your thoughts on The Darkest Minds? Are you a fan of young adult adaptations? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

The Darkest Minds was released in theaters in the US on August 3, 2018 and will be released in the UK on August 10, 2018. For all international release dates, click here.