– the most impressed I’ve been with a Stephen King adaptation in years. It’s arguably mis-marketed, since the horrifying dystopian premise here, though gruesomely presented and perhaps gratuitously macabre, is practically a backdrop and really just a crutch for the relationship drama at its heart. And what drama! The acting from the central cast is phenomenal and genuinely moving, and the characters are varied – sometimes deplorable – but (with one notable exception) believable. The exception is the arch-villain of the piece, the Major, who is about as developed as a toy soldier and serves as little more than a macguffin. But the ‘hunger games’ style window dressing of which he forms a key part feels like a trojan horse to sneak a richly human and dare I say it, intelligent, teen drama past studio execs. A pleasant surprise.
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