Maze Runner: The
Scorch Trials feels like a loaded gun waiting to explode but just misses
the mark. This follow-up to The Maze
Runner (2014) plays out like a cycle of: get free, get captured;
break free, get captured; break free again, and—you guessed it—get captured.
Even in captivity, they somehow manage to get captured again.
After seeing the
first movie, I had to watch the second to find out what happens to the young
adults after they escape the maze. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials introduces
us to a new world that feels suspicious from the start. While the first movie
was exciting, the second isn’t as thrilling, though it tries hard to mess with
your mind and keep you as intrigued as you were during the first film.
This second
installment in the Maze Runner trilogy takes a while to get going,
but once the running and fighting start, I found myself sitting up, eager to
see where it was all headed.
And guys—I saw
zombies. The end of the first movie hinted at what was coming next, but zombies
wanting to eat humans wasn’t what I expected. I’m glad I didn’t read up on the
movie beforehand because zombies aren’t really my thing. Still, I have to give
credit to the director for not making the movie entirely about zombies and
people running from them (though there is a long scene where our leads are
chased by these creatures). Instead, the focus is on the young adults who
escaped the maze and the people who captured them afterward.
The Scorch
Trials, released in 2010, is James Dashner’s follow-up to The Maze Runner.
The movie picks up where the first left off. The group of teens is picked up by
the same people who trapped them in the maze, though they don’t realize it at
first. Things feel off, especially when Thomas isn’t allowed to see Teresa. His
search for her leads him and the others to uncover what their captors really
want. They escape, only to run into zombie-like creatures. They escape again
and find a group of survivors. Then their old captors, WCKD, show up. They
escape once more, run into another group of survivors, and are betrayed by
someone in their own group. WCKD finds them again, leading to a mild
bloodbath—and some of them get captured again.
Now, Thomas is
determined to take the fight to WCKD.
The movie finally introduces some familiar faces, as the adult characters are more recognizable. I wouldn’t rate this movie lower than the first, but I’m hoping the third installment packs a bigger punch. This was a decent follow-up, but it could have been better.
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