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Uglies is a 2024 American science fiction drama film directed by McG and written by Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, and Whit Anderson. Based on the Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, the plot centers around a future post-apocalyptic Dystopian novel in which people are considered "ugly" until they become "pretty" by enduring extensive cosmetic surgery at the age of 16. The film stars Joey King, Keith Powers, Chase Stokes, Brianne Tju, Jan Luis Castellanos, Charmin Lee, and Laverne Cox. Uglies was released by Netflix on September 13, 2024, and received negative reviews from critics.
Tally and her best friend Peris are Uglies, but Peris, being three months older, leaves for his surgery first. The two share scars on their hands, which they vow to keep despite the procedure. They also promise to remain friends and meet again.
Tally, anxious to see Peris again, sneaks into the city. She confronts him but discovers that he has become careless, and the scar they vowed to keep is gone. When Tally is discovered, she is chased by the Wardens back to the Uglies' dormitories. Later, she befriends Shay, a rebellious Ugly who tells her about "The Smoke", a land of freedom in tune with nature based on the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Shay encourages Tally to come with her, reject the surgery, and seek out The Smoke and its leader, David. Tally refuses.
On her sixteenth birthday, Tally is denied her procedure until she tells Dr. Cable, the operations leader, where Shay is. She is told that David is dangerous, will hurt Shay, and that he is also building a weapon to destroy the city. Tally is sent as a spy into The Smoke, reunites with Shay, and meets David.
The Smoke reveals the orchid energy source is toxic to nature, so "The Smoke" rebels set them on fire to wipe them out. Tally and David share a moment, and she tosses her tracker into the fire after renouncing the system and rejecting her chance to become a Pretty.
As she begins to grow close with David, he and his family reveal the truth about the surgeries: they limit human free will, so the Pretties are easily controlled. A select few are given a cure to become the scientists surrounding the scheme. David's parents worked as some of those scientists until they discovered the truth and fled. Ever since, they have been working to develop the cure.
Her active tracker signals Dr Cable, who arrives with troops to round up the rebels. Peris, modified to be an enhanced soldier, kills David's father, and Tally is discovered to be the traitor. Still, she convinces David to take her with him to free the captured rebels, who are held in a lab facility.
Tally, David, and some of Tally's friends make a plan to rescue the captured rebels. Tally's friends create a diversion that allows Tally and David to arrive where the rebels are held. Everyone is freed except Shay, who has already undergone her procedure. Completely changed and oblivious to her previous cause, she is taken with the rebels to a safe spot. When Peris confronts the team, Tally tries to get through to his true personality. Although Peris shows promise, Tally protects David and throws Peris off a building into rubble to his death.
While escaping, David's mother reveals she stole the final piece of her cure. Yet, she does not want to administer it to Shay as she's unwilling. Tally volunteers to undergo the surgery and test the cure. She swears she will not let being Pretty change her drive for justice. She bids David and her friends goodbye.
Later, Tally is seen living as a Pretty in the city with all comforts, but she has kept her promise, as her scar still remains.
McG signed on to direct, while Krista Vernoff was hired to write the script. John Davis, Jordan Davis, Robyn Meisinger, Dan Spilo, McG, and Mary Viola produced. The project is a joint-venture production between Davis Entertainment Company, Anonymous Content, Industry Entertainment, and Wonderland Sound and Vision. Later that year, Keith Powers, Brianne Tju, Chase Stokes, and Laverne Cox joined the supporting cast. In February 2022, King revealed that production had already finished, and had taken place in Atlanta in December 2021.
Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "It's all about as familiar-feeling as it sounds, but it goes down easily thanks to McG's skillful, fast-paced direction, the imaginatively lavish CGI-enhanced visuals, and King's impressive performance." The Wall Street Journal's John Anderson said, "It feels a bit infantile, never mind petty, to go looking for literary-theological heft in a project so clearly directed at the blushingly young, or to begrudge them an indulgence like Uglies."
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