20th Century Fox has released the firstThe Darkest Mindstrailer. The film follows Ruby (Amandla Stenberg), a sixteen-year-old who might be the most powerful among all her peers when teens start mysteriously developing new abilities. When she and her friends discover that running isn’t enough, they turn around and start a resistance against the adults who betrayed them.
On the surface,The Darkest Mindsseems a little odd since it’s being distributed by 20th Century Fox, the studio that already ownsX-Men, and this movie looksverymuch in the vein of that superhero franchise, but perhaps without all the baggage that series entails. But looking at the plot,The Darkest Mindsmay inadvertently be perfectly timed to our age of youth resistance. Last weekend was the March for Our Lives, a movement by teens against the adult politicians who had failed them and bargained away their safety to the gun lobby. Movies don’t always get to choose their moment, butThe Darkest Mindscould easily tap into the zeitgeist through a YA filter.
Check out the firstThe Darkest Mindstrailer below. The film, directed byJennifer Yuh Nelson(Kung Fu Panda 2), opens August 3rd and also starsMandy MooreandGwendoline Christie.
Here’s the official synopsis forThe Darkest Minds:
When teens mysteriously develop powerful new abilities, they are declared a threat by the government and detained. Sixteen-year-old Ruby, one of the most powerful young people anyone has encountered, escapes her camp and joins a group of runaway teens seeking safe haven. Soon this newfound family realizes that, in a world in which the adults in power have betrayed them, running is not enough and they must wage a resistance, using their collective power to take back control of their future.
