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Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials


Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Ki Hong Lee, Thomas Sangster, Aidan Gillen, and Giancarlo Esposito
Directed by: Wes Ball
Screenplay by: T.S. Nowlin
Based on the novel by James Dashner

     Their first test was the maze.  Then they got out of the maze and managed to be captured by WCKD, the mysterious organization everything seems to be linked to.
     Scorch Trials picks up right were the first movie in the series left off.  The boys and Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) are no longer in the maze but instead are in a large base of some sort that is run by a man named Janson (Aidan Gillen, whom you may recognize as Petyr Baelish from the HBO series, Game of Thrones).  Thomas (Dylan O'Brien), the main guy in the group and "leader" thinks that something fishy is going on there.  All these people from other mazes keep showing up and some get taken, not to return again.  He gets his friends to break out of the place with him and look for the resistance against WCKD.  They'll travel far and wide across a desolate world that is all but destroyed completely, and encounter zombies too, all just to find out what WCKD is really up to.
     This film has a plot that seems as if it does not know where it is going to lead to by the end of the film.  It has a great deal of plot but not enough detail to make it seem like the story will be contained by this film, leaving the viewer wanting more before the next movie is released.
     Much of the film seems like a slightly more civilized version of Mad Max.  It takes place in the desert in a world that has basically ended.  There is a lack of a sense of order and people appear to be refugees wherever they exist.  At this point, it is still unclear what exactly happened to the world, except that an event known as the Scorch killed everything off, and everything that didn't die off was infected with something called the Flare.  These people are basically zombies.  I don't quite understand why they had to go with the whole zombie thing, because it's not like we've seen that before (see Zombieland, Resident Evil series;  okay, you get the point).
     This feels so far like a series similar to Divergent.  It wants to be the next Hunger Games phenomenon, but knows it can't be.  This is a story that has the power to captivate millions of young pre-teen and teenage people, yet somehow fails to.  As with most series, the second film is not quite as good as the first, but is necessary to tell the full story.
     I was intrigued by the first film because it showed a good deal of character development and interaction.  It showed team members working together to get out of a life-threatening situation.  This film fails to continue that characterization.  The team feels loosely put together and interacts little with each other.  It's clearly Thomas's story this time around and not anybody else's.  Yes, we know he's the "leader" of the group, but at some points it feels too forced.  The others don't argue, challenge, or question him as much as they perhaps should.  After all, their lives are basically in his hands.  Also, Teresa basically gets kicked aside for much of the film which bothers me.  She plays a vital role in the first film, yet not in the second, until the very end.
     Overall, this is a film that will intrigue those interested in the Maze Runner series, but perhaps not so much everyone else.
     I give The Scorch Trials a B-.

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