★★★
An illness has killed ninety per cent of the world’s children. Only a special few remain. Sound familiar? The Darkest Minds is a new entry into the lineage of dystopian teen adventures to be adapted from a successful young adult novel. It is a could-be franchise that probably won’t be, due to talented cast and crew not quite managing to stand out in the cluttered dystopian field.
★★★
Whilst the world waits eagerly for Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs and Shaw, its top-tier action stars have been whetting appetites with individual projects. This year, the Rock has delivered Rampage; now it’s the Stath’s turn with Jon Turteltaub’s The Meg. The question is: whose behemothic, Godzilla-inspired, uber-beast is bigger? There’s only one way to find out…fiiight!
★★
The Cold War has become an unwieldy metaphor. Particularly it’s notional finale: the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This is the setting for Daniel Zelik Berk’s Damascus Cover – a relocation for the Howard Kaplan popular book, upon which the film is based. It’s a neat shift, offering an enticing premise, but delivers nothing of note. Berk can see the promise of his link but it hovers just out of reach.
The Film Blog 