The Darkest Minds - A RMNT Review

The Darkest Minds is the latest film from 20th Century Fox that's based on the young adult novel of the same name by Alexandra Bracken, with Jennifer Yuh Nelson in her live-action directorial debut after previously directing Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3, and stars Amandla Stenberg, Harris Dickinson, Skylan Brooks, Patrick Gibson, Mandy Moore, Gwendoline Christie and Bradley Whitford. I was at first underwhelmed after seeing the trailer, but regardless, I had to keep an open mind. I had planned to go see it when it was released in theaters next week, but I got the opportunity to see it with a friend of mine who's also a fellow critic after he got an exclusive invite by a film organization to go see a free preview of the movie and was allowed to bring a friend to the event. So after we saw the film, we got a whole lot of mixed thoughts...

Like with Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, me and Sebastian from Cinemageddon Reviews did a first impressions video where we talk fully about the film including lots of spoilers because, let's face it, the many flaws needed to be addressed. Apologies for the picture and sound quality of the video.

In the end, despite the nicely-done production of the sets, decent effects, interesting ideas and Skylan Brooks's performance as the very likable Chubs, The Darkest Minds is what I expected: a badly-executed movie that's basically an X-Men ripoff mixed with elements taken from The Hunger Games, Divergent and Strangers Things, lack of establishment in characters and setting, bad pacing, lack of character development, a scene that was an unnecessary waste of time, a central romance that's built up to nothing, a villain who left a very disturbing impression and many moments that don't make sense. And yet, this was all based on a novel! However, I can recommend watching it as a "so bad, its good" film, but in all honesty, I really do hope it doesn't get a sequel...

Story: 2 / 5

Characters: 2 / 5

Production: 3.5 / 5

Final rating: 2.5 / 5