Storyline
After a disease kills 98% of America's children, the surviving 2% develop superpowers and are placed in internment camps. A 16-year-old girl escapes her camp and joins a group of other teens on the run from the government.
Directors
Writers
Cast
Amandla Stenberg, Catherine Dyer, Sammi Rotibi, Wallace Langham, Mandy Moore, Wade Williams, Gwendoline Christie, John Crow, Deja Dee, Bradley Whitford, Skylan Brooks, Berglind Jonsdottir, Ethan Alexander McGee, Patrick Gibson, Mark O'Brien, Charles Green, Faye Foley, Lidya Jewett, Devon Sorvari, Harris Dickinson, Golden Brooks, Peyton Wich, Kaleigh Rivera, Bruce Blackshear, Miya Cech, McCarrie McCausland, Grace DeAmicis, Logan Siu, Drew Scheid, Larkin Campbell, Carson Holmes, Morgan Gao, Izabella Dzmitryieu, Allie McCulloch, Shannon Mosley, Darren Alford, Makenzie Collier, Skyler Semien, DeVyne Agapito, Desi-Ray Morris, Brooke Bowe, Bernard Bell, Alannah Wilhite, Brennen Wiley, Bryce Speaker, Ahmed Zakzouk, Cynne Simpson, Gino LaMont
Trailer
Reviews
75
The Darkest Minds is smart. It has a lot to convey to its young audience, and the strong cast does everything in their power to illustrate those themes and to bring their characters to earnest, believable life. But it’s not quite thrilling enough to sneak its mission statements under anyone’s noses, so it plays a bit more like a manifesto than a sci-fi thriller.
60
Without watering down the action, Nelson soft-pedals the most disturbing ideas in such a way that young audiences won’t be overwhelmed with gloom, instead inviting them to identify with the film’s empowered female heroine as she struggles to overcome her crippling lack of self-confidence and embrace what makes her special.
59
IGN
The Darkest Minds is a wholly rote YA sci-fi adventure that continues a genre that is pretty much dying out. Despite this, the film is capable and enjoyable and features a great lead actress in Amandla Stenberg.
58
The film zips through its final act at breakneck speed, doling out answers and riling up new conflicts with little care for how they impact a standalone story, just setting up for a franchise that might never come to fruition.
50
Young moviegoers who haven't yet tired of cookie-cutter dystopias will find a sympathetic protagonist played by Amandla Stenberg; but viewers who've taken this ride enough times to want, for instance, subtext addressing real-world oppression should look elsewhere.
