The movie adaptation of “The Darkest Minds” by Alexandra Bracken was released on August 3. It had fans raving about the movie months before its release.

Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the movie follows the adventure of a young girl named Ruby Daly, played by Amandla Stenberg, who has been in many new movies within the past years. One of her best being the movie, “Everything, Everything.”

The main character, Ruby, is one of many children to have gotten a sickness that grants them superpowers. The government makes everyone fear these children and their powers and takes them away, putting them in work camps to kill off the most lethally powered children.

Each level of power is different and each power level is given a color. Green powers give heightened intelligence. Blue powered children can move things with their mind. Yellow power controls electricity. Red powers can control and create fire, and orange is the power to control minds, memories and emotions. The children that are killed for their powers are the most dangerous ones, which are reds and oranges.

Ruby is an orange hiding as a green in the child labor camps. They eventually catch her, but she gets help escaping from a woman who works in the camp. Along the way, Ruby meets other runaway children with powers who are setting
out in hopes of finding a place where other runaways can live in peace.

With the help of her new friends, Ruby finds out who she really is and why she is so important. She is made a leader, ready to lead the other children into war.

The budget for the movie was 34 million dollars, which they were able to make back as the movie made 39.9 million dollars in the box office. However, there have been a lot of complaints about the movie. Due to the amount of low ratings, it is not yet clear if there will be another movie after the first one’s cliffhanger.

Despite how bad the script was, the movie did do a very good job at special effects for the children’s powers and setting the tone of the movie. It was all very colorful to present a childlike environment, and when things got darker, that was when the children had to fight and stand up for themselves.

Amandla Stenberg as Ruby was a great choice due to how well she plays complicated characters. She portrays her roles in a way all teenagers will be able to relate to. Her love interest, Liam Stewart, played by Harris Dickinson, is Stenberg’s opposite. His character gives off a tougher persona, and he is the leader of their four person group, so he has to balance being a brother and a leader.

“The Darkest Minds” is a fantastic, young adult capturing film, with a futuristic vibe that reminds people of “Divergent” or “The Maze Runner.”