‘The Darkest Minds’ is a jumble of derivative dystopian ideas

Kids under the age of 18 are being persecuted by adults for their special powers in “The Darkest Minds,” an adaptation of Book 1 of Alexandra Bracken’s young adult trilogy that’s about five years and 15 movie dystopias too late to feel the least bit fresh or interesting.

And it’s not for lack of trying. Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson (“Kung Fu Panda 2”) brings a heart-pounding intensity to the deeply disturbing story in her live-action debut. Children die, are beaten, burned alive, hunted and interned for their powers, which are helpfully color-coded by their glowing eyes and can range from super smart to Jedi to fire-breather.

But the story is not only derivative of so many other dystopias and kids with power sagas, but, and perhaps worst of all, it never even really gets going — a clear and infuriating set up for some future installment.

The film speeds through a jumble of exposition setting up a world in which most of the children die suddenly and the 2 percent who remain develop said special powers. The U.S. President (Bradley Whitford), afraid of tots and teens capable of mind control and telekinesis even though he’s also father to one, dispatches his military to round them up, execute the most dangerous and force the rest into labor camps.

Ruby (Amandla Stenberg) is our entry into this world. She’s an “orange,” the second most dangerous color, but survives by mind-controlling the screeners into thinking she’s “green,” or the smart ones. A kindly nurse helps her escape the camp before her subterfuge is exposed.

This first 30 or so minutes is fairly riveting, with interesting action and tension, but soon it becomes clear that this story has no intention of going anywhere, at least in this movie.

Ruby hooks up with a little squad of runaways, the electricity-wielding Zu (Miya Cech), the smart Chubs (Skylan Brooks) and the oh-so-obvious love interest Liam (Harris Dickinson) as they search for a paradise camp that’s run by another escaped kid. There are obstacles: Ruby is afraid to let her new friends know her true color, there’s a psycho bounty hunter on their tail and a lot of cagey cliques of kids unwilling to help.

There’s also quite a lot of filler and half-baked story lines and underdeveloped ideas that leave this whole exercise feeling stilted and not quite finished.

There are also appealing things about this movie, like Stenberg, who does wonders with what she’s given to work with, and her chemistry with Dickinson.

But as the whole dystopian YA genre looks for a way to evolve, this concept of set-up movies really needs to die. Derivative is excusable, a half story is not.

This story was originally published August 2, 2018 at 2:39 PM with the headline "‘The Darkest Minds’ is a jumble of derivative dystopian ideas."