Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)

nThe Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)

nDirector: Wes Ball

nCast: Dylan O’Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, ThomasnBrodie-Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosa Salazar, Lily Taylor

nThe whole kids versus ‘the system’ thing has run its coursenin my book. But you know Hollywood, they’ll keep pumping out movies based onnthe latest young adult hit novel until the whole things been bled to death. ThenHunger Game movies are a huge bore for me; all they do is talk, talk, and thenntalk some more and it’s not even good dialog. For example Insurgent (2015), thenlatest sequel from the Divergent series was such a letdown of a film! Nothingnhappens! Worst part is that I actually enjoyed the first one! Even worse isnthat Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet were on this thing! Which brings me to thenproblem with some of these franchises: Hollywood will do a good first film tonkick the franchise of and then follow it with watered down, less than stellarnsequel. When it comes to franchises, sometimes Hollywood doesn’t pay muchnattention to sequels because they figure we’ll see whatever they pump out,nbecause they’ve already got us hooked. They figure we’ll pay for a shittynsequel because we just gotta know how it ends. Well, I got news for younHollywood, I’m not gonna fall for it! I’m not seeing the next Divergent film!nThat franchise is dead in my book. I’m sick of Hollywood stretching out filmsnwith unnecessary dialog just so they can pump out another extra sequel! What’snthis sucky new trend where they turn the last film in the franchise into twonfilms? Its bullshit I tell ya! So of course, I went into Maze Runner: ThenScorch Trials (2015) with extremely low expectations. Was this to be another stretchednout, shitty sequel?

nIn the first film, Thomas and his crew of misfits managed tonescape the maze in which they were living in, yet the question remained, who isnrunning the show? Why where they placed in this maze in the first place andnwhat comes after you escape it? As we soon discover, the kids haven’t escapednthe clutches of ‘Wicked’ just yet, which by the way is the name that they havenfor the government on this series of films. That’s right my friends, thengovernment on these films is so evil that it’s called ‘Wicked’. So anyhow, thenkids have to run yet again and escape into the wild and crazy scorched earth; anpost apocalyptic waste land filled with infected zombie like ex-humans. You seenhumanity has been infected by a deadly virus for which there is apparently noncure. The government is trying to find it, but with no success! ApparentlynThomas’s blood is what can save humanity! Will the wicked government everncapture Thomas and manage to harvest his blood?

nThe good thing about these Maze Runner movies is that theynare not boring, as opposed to The Hunger Games and Divergent films. Sure theyngot their expository dialog, but it’s quickly followed by action andninteresting visuals. This movie has some pretty nifty action sequences, andnstaying true to its title, they actually do run for most of the film, this isnwithout a doubt a chase film. So in this sense you can rest easy, the filmnwon’t bore you to tears. And another good thing it has going for it is thatnit’s visually interesting. There’s this moment where the kids are running awaynfrom a thunder storm which I thought was pretty cool from a visual standpoint.nThere’s another sequence where they have to run away from a zombie horde whilenrunning through a series of toppled down buildings which was fun. So while the whole theme of young kids versusnthe system is getting pretty old by now, The Maze Runner series is keepingnthings interesting by telling their tale with an emphasis on action. So kudosnto the filmmakers for that!

nThe thing with this series of films is that there’s a shroudnof mystery throughout the whole series of films. We’ve yet to fully understandnwhy these kids were put in that maze in the first place, the answers arenalluded to, but never fully answered, which I think is a successful element innthese films, they want to keep us guessing. Keep it a mystery and people willnwant to come back for the next film. A new addition to this film was the wholenpost apocalyptic angle. I love post apocalyptic films and the icing on the cakenis that we also get zombies on this one, now there’s a surprise! So for a whilenthere, this turns into a zombie flick. Sans the gore of course, because wengotta keep it ‘PG-13’, can’t forget our target audience here are teens. Still,nit was a pretty intense and fast paced film. The characters were likable, Inthought it was interesting how each of the rebels is from a different ethnicitynas if to make sure kids from all over the world are represented on the film,nwhich reminded me of Children of the Damned (1964), which did a similar thing.nThis is probably done to give teens from all parts of the world a characternthey can identify with. I liked that they made the Asian guy a kick assncharacter, but the black guy does next to nothing, so I guess Hollywood stillnhas to deal with giving black characters more substantial roles. To me, eachnone of the kids should have their moment to shine, not just the white guy. Thisnis director Wes Ball’s second film, his first was The Maze Runner (2014), sonthis guy has two for two in entertainment value in my book, let’s see if he cannkeep it up for the third one. I’m curious for Maze Runner: The Death Curen(2017), let’s hope they don’t stretch that one into two films.

nRating: 4 out of 5