Introduction to The Darkest Minds Movie Review by Ms. H
When I saw the preview for The Darkest Minds movie, my first thought was the storyline centered around teenagers who are being hunted for some reason. Also, based on the previews, it looked like the goal of these characters was to escape something -- similar to the movie Maze Runner: The Death Cure. As an aside, in my opinion, The Darkest Minds movie was no match for the Maze Runner movie mainly because I think the other movie was more well crafted. However, I’m getting ahead of myself. Without further ado, here is my review of The Darkest Minds movie.
Movie Genre of The Darkest Minds Movie
The Darkest Minds movie is categorized as science fiction with the main characters possessing various superpowers. Characters with the greatest superpowers which include mind control are labeled by the color orange. Whenever the main character played by Amandla Stenberg used her powers, her eyes would turn colors before she gave out a mind-control command etc.
Pros of The Darkest Minds Movie
It has been awhile since I’ve seen the actress Mandy Moore on the big screen instead of on B graded television movies. I’m counting the return of Mandy Moore as a pro for the movie -- The Darkest Minds.
Another pro of The Darkest Minds movie was the choice of songs that played as background music during the movie. One of the songs that caught my attention was entitled “Find Me;” however, there were others as well.
Similar to most action movies, there is a major face-off or big battle toward the end of The Darkest Minds movie -- one that I will not divulge in my review. You will know what I’m referring to if you see the movie.
Cons of The Darkest Minds
I believe the name of the movie should have been changed. Instead of the title -- "The Darkist Minds" -- another name should have been used to tie it more closely to the storyline. Some of my suggestions would be “Strength in Your Colors”, Dangerous Hues”, or something else along those lines. “The Darkest Minds” title gave me the impression that people were using their minds to plot evil things -- which does occur but is not what this movie is all about.
Additionally, The Darkest Minds movie was not suspenseful to me. The writer and director tried to create twists and turns in the movie -- but each time, I knew what was being done. So lack of suspense is another con for The Darkest Minds movie
To me, there was a lack of chemistry between the two main actors. Previoulsy, the main character, Ruby Daily played a role opposite Nick Robinson in another movie entitled "Everything, Everything." As I watched this movie, I could envision Nick Robinson playing the role of Liam Stewart much more convincely than the actor who currently plays the part -- Harris Dickinson.
During the movie, there are flashbacks scenes that show a younger Rudy Daly. Unfortunately, I did not see a strong resemblance of this young actor to the older Ruby Daly -- even though to her credit, I think she played her role well.
In this science fiction movie, there are two major facets -- The League and a corrupt village composed of people (mostly teenagers) with special powers. Spoiler Alert: The places they could live safely seemed to be very limited; therefore, it seemed strange to me that at the end of the movie, Rudy Daily would send Liam Stewart away because of some sort of potential punishment he would receive if he stayed with the League -- especially when there seemed to be nowhere else for him to go.
Another con of the movie is the repetitive scenes in the movie where they would meet up with a group of people -- fight against them -- then later became non-enemies. I think there was too much switching back and forth between friends and foes.
Assessment of The Darkest Minds Movie
Fortunately, I saw this movie using a free movie ticket. If I did not have the free movie ticket, I do not think I would have chosen to see The Darkest Minds. It had the overall look of a tv movie instead of a big screen movie production. The action scenes were so-so and the connection between the two main actors were not believable to me. However, as I alluded to above -- some of the background music was enjoyable to listen to.
Rating of The Darkest Minds Movie
Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate The Darkest Minds movie 2 ¾ stars.