From producers of Stranger Things comes the sci-fi thriller, The Darkest Minds, now available on Blu-ray, DVD and on digital.
The Darkest Minds stars Amandla Stenberg, Mandy Moore, Bradley Whitford, Harris Dickinson, Patrick Gibson, Skylan Brooks and Miya Cech.
I am a HUGE fan of Stranger Things, and the trailer for this movie looked really good, so I was happy to review this film.
The Darkest Minds is about a dystopian society where almost the entire world’s population of children have died. The surviving children each have some kind of a “gift” such as telekinesis, the ability to manipulate electricity, and the ability to erase people’s minds.
The surviving children have been put into special segregated camps, far away from their families. All of the children are color coded based on their abilities. The children labeled as green are not much of a threat whereas those who are labeled a red or orange are the most dangerous kind.
Ruby lived at home with her parents after the disease started to kill of the world’s children. Unbeknownst to her family at that time, Ruby has the ability to erase minds. It wasn’t until she accidentally erased her mother’s mind – and all of the memories she had of Ruby – that she was shipped off to one of the children’s camps.
While at the camp Ruby is able to mask her abilities so that she is seen as a green, not as an orange.
When her true abilities are found out, Ruby is helped to escape by a doctor named Cate. Ruby doesn’t fully trust Cate.
Ruby escapes with three other children – Liam, Zu and Chubbs – in hopes of finding a safe place where the children and live without the treat of being destroyed by adults who fear them.
While on the run from the adults, Ruby and her friends realize that perhaps no where is safe, and that its hard to find anyone except for each other that they can trust.
Will Ruby and her friends ever find a safe place to live their lives peacefully? To find out you need to pick up a copy of The Darkest Minds. Look for it where ever movies are sold. It’s also on digital download.
There are several bonus features on the Blu-ray/DVD which include:
- Gag Reel – It looks like they had a lot of fun on the set of this film.
- Commentary – Sorry, I am not a fan of commentary, so I rarely ever watch it.
- Character Profiles – If you watch this featurette before watching the film it will give you better insight and understanding into the main characters of this movie.
- Storyboard-to-Screen Comparison – Very interesting.
- And more
Overall I liked the film. It’s not going to win any Oscars, but it was interesting enough to keep me entertained.
I think this film is more geared towards ‘tween and teens, more so than adults. Grown ups really don’t have any interest in teen romances and similar situations.
I wanted to review this title because it looked interesting based on the trailer. I love sci-fi films and this had all the elements of one.
As far as the special effects are concerned, this film was pretty cool. It had some great ones, especially a wild car chase.
The main characters were likable. Not really relate able (for obvious reasons – I don’t have any special abilities), but likable(meaning there weren’t any characters that got on your nerves).
As for the story line, it was a bit strange. I never really understood why all the kids in the world were the only ones killed off by a disease (why not adults?), and what caused the remaining kids to have special abilities? I think they could have done a bit better explaining all of that backstory.
The way the film ended gives me the impression that there could be a sequel. That is just what my “gut feeling” is telling me.
Did you see The Darkest Minds? If so, what did you think of it? Feel free to comment and share your thoughts.
The film can be found on social media (DarkestMinds on Twitter & Instagram, DarkestMindsMovie on Facebook). The official hashtag is #TheDarkestMinds. You can also check out the movie’s official web page.
Below is the film’s official trailer for your enjoyment. PLEASE NOTE that this is the theatrical trailer. The film is no longer in theaters.
Kimberly
*I received a free screener copy to review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.