The Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds, a 2018 American dystopian science fiction film, marked Jennifer Yuh Nelson's live-action feature directorial debut. Chad Hodge wrote the screenplay, with Shawn Levy and Dan Levine producing. The cast includes Amandla Stenberg, Harris Dickinson, Mandy Moore, and Gwendoline Christie. The story, based on Alexandra Bracken's 2012 young adult novel, follows children who flee the government after a mysterious infection gives them superpowers.

In a future United States, a plague called Idiopathic Adolescent Acute Neurodegeneration kills nearly 90% of children. Survivors develop powers categorized by color: Green (intelligence), Blue (telekinesis), Yellow (electricity), Red (pyrokinesis), and Orange (telepathy and mind control). The government executes Orange children, deeming them too dangerous, while confining others to camps. Reds are tortured and brainwashed into a personal army for the President.

Ruby Daly, an Orange, tricks a doctor into classifying her as Green and is sent to a camp. Six years later, the Children's League resistance helps her escape. A worker named Cate gives Ruby a panic button tracker. Suspicious of the League after touching a member named Rob, Ruby flees with a mute Yellow girl named Suzume (Zu). Zu leads Ruby to Liam (a Blue) and Charles "Chubs" (a Green). The four head toward "East River," a safe haven run by an Orange called the "Slip Kid."

At an abandoned mall, they meet other survivors. Through Ruby's subtle power, they learn the clue "E.D.O.," which Chubs deduces is a radio frequency for East River in Lake Prince, Virginia. The group surprises Ruby by taking her to her former home in Salem, Virginia, hoping she'll reconcile with her parents. Seeing them through a glass door, she realizes she made them forget her and runs away. Liam comforts her, and they grow close, but Ruby avoids touching him out of fear. A bounty hunter named Lady Jane captures Chubs and Zu, then ambushes Ruby and Liam. Ruby overpowers Lady Jane, revealing her Orange identity. After a misunderstanding, they ditch their van and walk to East River.

At East River, the Slip Kid is revealed to be Clancy Gray, the son of the President. Clancy opposes the government and controls the Children's League. He teaches Ruby to control her powers and convinces her to help him erase memories, supposedly to let a homesick Chubs contact his parents.