Trouble in a vanilla paradise

DYSTOPIAN societies - those bleak places in the future where independent thinking is suppressed and everything is characterised by a sinister soullessness - are all the rage in the movies these days. Whether it's a space station studded with luxury homes (Elysium, 2013), earth in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event (Oblivion, 2013) or a nation ruled by ruthless leaders (The Hunger Games, 2012), it doesn't bode well unless you're sitting at the council table as a member of the privileged elite.

And so it goes in The Giver, the latest in a long line of movies aimed at young adults - those members of the movie-viewing public most likely to partake in unbridled spending at the popcorn counter. Much like the society it depicts, the film - directed by Phillip Noyce, written by Michael Mitnick and Robert B Weide and based on the novel of the same name by Lois Lowry - is depressingly bland.

The pristine community in The Giver has risen from the ashes of some unnamed war and is so devoid of character that it is depicted in black and white. That's because everyone - including teenagers and firm friends Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), Asher (Cameron Monaghan) and Fiona (Odeya Rush) - has a plain vanilla view of life. That's the world they were born into, and that's the way the elders want it. Anyone who can't live up to the standards set by the Elders is "released" to a placed called Elsewhere.