304. The Darkest Minds; movie review

THE DARKEST MINDS
Cert 12A
104 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate threat, violence

Saturday morning and we found ourselves with a couple of hours to spare before pre-football match lunch and spent it, fruitfully, at Feltham Cineworld.
Yes, Mrs W and I enjoyed The Darkest Minds rather more than many critics seem to have done.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson's adaptation of Alexandra Bracken's novel has echoes of the dystopian worlds of The Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent and The Fifth Wave.
This time a viral disease has killed off 90 per cent of the world's children.
It jarred with us a little that people are not going around weeping and hollering and are, instead, rounding up the remaining 10 per cent who have varying supernatural powers.
Regardless, that is the case and one of the aforementioned survivors is Ruby (Amandla Stenberg) who can alter people's minds by touching them.
She escapes the prison camps and teams up with three young people who have complementary gifts.
Inevitably, there is some light love interest between Ruby and the most handsome of the trio (Harris Dickinson) but the main focus is on the battle to stay alive and find a mythical safe area for children.
Stenberg makes a compelling lead - initially vulnerable and scared of both her powers and her situation but gradually becoming more confident as the film goes on.
Meanwhile, Dickinson is a calming foil and Skylan Brooks, is a geeky but loyal super-brain and Mia Cech is a silent but devastating conductor of electricity.
And, of course, there is a dastardly villain who does not emerge until late in the film.
The Darkest Minds doesn't have the power of The Hunger Games nor the teenage sex appeal of  Divergent and too much of its backdrop is not fully explained.
But there is enough action to sate young fans and both Ruby and her beau, Liam, have enough sparkle to keep teenage fans happy.
It is not aimed at our age group but it kept Mrs W and I entertained and I didn't groan when it lent into a sequel at its finale.
However, its poor box office performance may stand in the way of a reprise.

Reasons to watch: Pretty good teenage action movie
Reasons to avoid: Pales next to the likes of The Hunger Games

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7/10

Director quote - Jennifer Yuh Nelson: "The book has a fantastic emotional pull. That came through the script, that came through the book, that came through the characters that people are obsessed about."

The big question - How would we really react if 90 per cent of our children were wiped out?

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