I have questions but no answers...

neil-476

A plague kills the majority of the world's children. Those who survive have various paranormal abilities, and are graded by the government from Green (the majority, with simple, safe powers) up through the colours to Orange (rare, and so dangerous that they are to be killed on identification). 10 year old Orange Ruby survives by pretending to be Green inside one of the the prison camps which house all children. When the authorities finally realise the truth, Ruby escapes and enters one of the underground factions.

This film is an adaptation of the first of a Young Adult novel trilogy (yes, another one). As a result, there is no real ending. The story works moderately well as it goes along, but leaves you with a host of unanswered questions at the end. Maybe some of them are addressed in subsequent instalments, but the absence of answers here is pretty unsatisfying. The whole prison camp with sadistic guards scenario is difficult to swallow, for a start.

The young cast work hard and do quite well. Amandla Stenberg is pneumatic, as she was in Everything, Everything, as Ruby, and pulls off a pleasingly emotional sequence towards the end.

As a science fiction lover, I felt this had the potential to be better, though.

score 7/10

neil-476 17 August 2018

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4289365/