5 Best Movies from Dystopian YA Era We All Miss So Much
You'll be hit by a wave of nostalgia. We warned you.
Teenage dystopian fantasy was a popular genre of the 2010s: it came as abruptly as it went, but it was long remembered.
In honor of the release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a Hunger Games prequel that attempts to revive this long-dead fantasy genre, we've recalled five movies that all (or almost all) Katniss Everdeen fans have seen.
1. The Host
Most of humanity has died at the hands of Souls – aliens who expel the spirit from the human body and fill it with their own. When a Soul tried to take over the body of an ordinary girl, Melanie, her own soul began to resist. Now two spirits live in one body, and this unity will help humans survive.
The novel The Host by Stephenie Meyer was first published in 2008. It stayed on the bestseller list for 26 weeks and could not escape the attention of Hollywood directors. The Host is a sci-fi melodrama with youthful passions and a love triangle (or even a square).
2. The 5th Wave
Aliens have come to Earth. Their goals were unclear until the first wave of attacks: the first one was an electromagnetic storm, and a second one was an earthquake. Each subsequent wave claimed more and more lives. Cassie has only her brother Sam alive. The military took him away, and the girl will stop at nothing to save her brother.
Rick Yancey's novel is a difficult one to adapt. It is based on strong drama, many fight scenes, and inner monologues of characters full of deep observations and dark humor. And although the adaptation has been criticized, it remains one of the representatives of the time when everyone was enthusiastic about YA dystopias after the success of The Hunger Games.
3. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
Clary Fray learns that she is a descendant of an ancient family of Shadowhunters. This secret group consists of half-angel warriors who protect the world from demons. Clary teams up with the Shadowhunters to find her missing mother and is introduced to the world of wizards, vampires, and werewolves.
In the wake of Twilight 's popularity, many studios were trying to find something that would interest teenage audiences, and another bestseller appeared on the horizon just in time – City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, who wrote six books in the series. The movie did not pay off and no sequels were released, but later the fantastic story found a second life in the show Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments.
4. I Am Number Four
John Smith is one of the last surviving inhabitants of a distant planet. Forced to hide from enemies, John is constantly moving from place to place. In different cities, John was always a newcomer without a past, but one day he found a place he could call home: in a small town in Ohio, John met his love. Now he must fight the ancient enemies of his people and fulfill his destiny.
A movie based on the book of the same name by Pittacus Lore, which, unfortunately for many fans, never got a sequel. As a bonus, there's Teresa Palmer as a brutal blonde who follows the famous "cool guys don't look at explosions" rule.
5. Divergent
Created in the wake of The Hunger Games' success, the teenage saga about a post-apocalyptic future society where there is no place for individuality, Divergent was a smash hit, proving that there can never be too many selfless fighters against the system. This time, the burden of saving the world from a totalitarian regime fell on the shoulders of Shailene Woodley.
No, Divergent is not perfect. But out of a dozen followers of Twilight and the Harry Potter saga, only The Hunger Games and Divergent managed to become a real event in the world of cinema.