Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

The Darkest Minds Blu-ray Movie Review

The Divergent Maze X-Men Games.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 31, 2018

Haven’t we seen this story before — several times, in fact? A mysterious substrain of kids with superpowers suddenly appears, and the world splits into various factions, with shadowy governmental conspiracies threatening the existence of a small band of revolutionaries — sound just a little familiar, maybe? The only challenging thing about The Darkest Minds for some viewers may therefore be deciding which previous so-called “YA” cinematic adaptation has been stolen from the most. There are elements of everything from The Divergent Series: 3-Film Collection to the Maze Runner Trilogy to The Hunger Games: Complete 4-Film Collection to the X-Men: Collection, the last of which is not an official “YA” franchise, but which has obviously informed a lot of The Darkest Minds’ already derivative plot mechanics.

The Darkest Minds is one of those films that is so clunkily written that it just kind of trots out “Moishe the Explainer” interstitials at several junctures, with characters just lapsing into expository monologues in order to clarity what’s going on. That begins right off the bat with some voiceover courtesy of focal character Ruby (played by Amandla Stenberg for most of the film, but with Lidya Jewett essaying the character as a younger girl). Ruby quickly documents a strange viral infection which is killing almost all of the world’s children. That has understandably made parents whose kids haven’t died fraught with panic and despair, including Ruby’s parents. In a supposedly important plot point that is really not detailed very clearly in the film, Ruby evidently catches the virus, and in touching her mother, erases her mother’s memory of her child. That leads to Ruby’s incarceration in a camp for the surviving children who are showing signs of the “disease”. Already The Darkest Minds is teetering on the edge of nonsensical plot elements, since Ruby is no longer recognized by her mother. Except — what about her father, and everyone else who knew this family had a daughter? But I guess in “high concept” films like this one, it’s best not to ask too many questions.

The bulk of the film takes place some years later, with Ruby initially still incarcerated at the concentration camp for mutants (well, really, that’s what it is, though Magneto is nowhere to be found). In another somewhat hilarious elision, an early vignette has a doctor walking over to a helpful wall chart which lists all the different “levels” of diseased children, all of whom have been conveniently stuffed into a color coded array that varies from green (just highly intelligent, nothing major to worry about) to the dreaded orange, which of course turns out to be Ruby’s classification. Luckily (?), Ruby has mind control capabilities and manages to more or less hypnotize the doctor into changing her to a “green”, since “oranges” are instantly killed as soon as they’ve been identified. Needless to say, Ruby’s “orange-ness” is ultimately discovered, but she’s broken out of the place by a seemingly helpful doctor named Cate Conner (Mandy Moore).

Of course, Cate’s motivations, or at least those of her cohort, are questionable, and Ruby escapes once again, finally finding refuge with a gaggle of kids who just kind of magically are where Ruby is, in yet another overly convenient and completely unexplained plot element. The kids are all different “colors”, with differing abilities, but there’s an instant connection between Ruby and Liam (Harris Dickinson), a boy with telekinetic powers. The kids all set off for a promised refuge which is evidently being run by another “orange”. Hot on their tail is Cate and her ally, as well as a nasty bounty hunter named Lady Jane (Gwendoline Christie). It’s all resolutely by the numbers, and the really annoying thing is that they’re other films’ numbers most of the time.

Speaking of kids of color (to pun horribly), perhaps the one slightly innovative element here is having a young African American heroine, along with the supposedly “courageous” choice to have her involved in an interracial romance. (Stendberg is evidently actually biracial in real life, but the character of Ruby is clearly shown with two African American parents.) But even this aspect is played clunkily, with a silly climax at the end which seems to suggest, “never mind, we were only kidding”. The pretty spectacular failure of this film at the box office may portend an end to this “franchise” even before it really gets started, something that a variety of other plot machinations, including a reveal about who’s in charge of the refugee camp for the mutant children, may have expended a lot of energy for to no real effect.

The Darkest Minds Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Darkest Minds is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Once again the IMDb doesn't offer a ton of technical data on the shoot, but I found some online data suggesting Arri cameras digitally captured the imagery, and I'm assuming things were finished at a 2K DI (as always with my reviews, if anyone has authoritative information to the contrary, message me, and I'll happily update the review). This is a crisp and appealing looking presentation, though it's often as derivative looking as some of its plot elements feel. Kind of interestingly (and commendably in my not so humble opinion), this is one YA adventure outing that has not been continually graded toward either blue or yellow, and as such the palette is rather warm and natural looking a lot of the time, especially in some of the actually rather lustrous looking outdoor locations. Depth of field in these moments is typically excellent, and even with a predilection toward shooting into light sources, with effulgent glows surround characters, detail levels remain surprisingly strong throughout. Fine detail on elements like the braided sweater Ruby wears in the film or even the striations on gun barrels is typically excellent. A few nighttime scenes don't offer a wealth of shadow detail, and some of the CGI is actually kind of surprisingly cheesy looking, but on the whole this is a sharp and well detailed presentation that should satisfy the film's fans.

The Darkest Minds Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Darkest Minds features a well designed DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track that delivers the goods, albeit once again in a pretty predictable manner. Big set pieces like a manic car chase that just appears out of nowhere fairly early in the film offer nicely placed effects throughout the side and rear channels, with some booming LFE to boot. Even "non effects" sequences like a big dance party at the refugee camp later in the film offer excellent surround activity. The glut of outdoor material also offers consistent opportunity for discrete channelization of ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly on this problem free track.

The Darkest Minds Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Remember - A Look Beyond Ruby and Liam's Last Kiss (Original Animatic by Jennifer Yuh Nelson) (1080p; 3:56) features optional commentary by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Dan Levine and Dan Cohen.


• Deleted Scene (1080p; 1:28) features optional commentary by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Dan Levine and Dan Cohen.


• Gag Reel (1080p; 3:44)


• Jennifer Yuh Nelson: Heroine at the Helm (1080p; 17:24) profiles the director.


• Ruby: Harnessing Hope (1080p; 4:54) is a brief piece focusing on the main character.


• Liam: A Complicated Relationship (1080p; 5:07) looks at Ruby's would be boyfriend.


• Chubs: Found Family (1080p; 4:13) concentrates on the "nerd" of the group.


• Zu: Awakened Abilities (1080p; 5:54) offers some content on the little girl with the dishwashing gloves.


• Clancy: Crafting a Possible Future (1080p; 5:59) focuses on the possibly duplicitous son of the President.


• Feature Commentary by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Dan Levine and Dan Cohen


• Storyboard to Screen Comparison (1080p; 00:59) features optional commentary by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Dan Levine and Dan Cohen.


• The Power of Georgia (1080p; 5:00) is the first of two puff pieces trumpeting the location work.


• Behind the Scenes in Georgia (1080p; 2:06) is the second piece.


• Gallery (1080p; 2:08) offers either a Manual Advance or an Auto Advance mode. The timing is for the Auto Advance mode.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:11)

The Darkest Minds Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even the best YA film adaptations have hit a snag or two as they've moved on to subsequent entries. Maybe the good news here is that it looks unlikely that The Darkest Minds will have any follow ups, but, who knows? — maybe Ruby is working her mind control on Fox executives even as we speak (or I write and you read), so there may well be a sequel down the line. That said, this is hugely derivative on virtually every level. That said, if you are a fan of this film, Fox has provided a Blu-ray release with excellent technical merits and some appealing supplements.