The Scorch Trials is good, but could have been better
Director: Wes Ball
Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Dexter Darden, Giancarlo Esposito, Alexander Flores, Aidan Gillen, Ki Hong Lee, Jacob Lofland, Barry Pepper, Rosa Salazar, Lili Taylor, Alan Tudyk and Patricia Clarkson
Studios: Gotham Group
Temple Hill Entertainment
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Released Date: September 9, 2015 (International)
September 18, 2015 (U.S.)
Plot: The film takes place after the events of the first movie and follows Thomas and the rest of the Gladers as they escape the WKCD Organization and travel through the dangerous Scorch.
The Maze Runner (2014) was one of my favorite films last year. Based on James Dashner's dystopian novel of the same name. It centers on a group of boys trapped within a place called the Glades, surrounded by mysterious maze that changes paths every night. It was an intriguing premise, and one that really got my attention. And so I was delighted that it turned out to be a whole lot of fun to watch. It was one of the most exciting cinematic experiences I've had.
This year gives us it's sequel, entitled The Scorch Trials, also based on another James Dashner work (it's a series, guys). And I was really looking forward to it. So in this episode of Certified Ace, I will give you my thoughts on the film. Warning: Lots of Spoilers Ahead!
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| The begins where the first movie left off. |
The Film Starts Out Strong
The Maze Runner ended with Thomas and the Gladers being taken into a helicopter by some masked men. As they fly over the Maze, it is revealed to be placed in a vast desert wasteland. Eventually, the helicopter approaches a ruined city. This sequel opens with their arrival at a facility where other boys from different mazes have been kept. Here, Thomas starts to feel like the men who helped him is hiding something from them. With the help of one of the boys that have arrived there earlier, Aris (Jacob Lofland) he discovers that this facility is owned by WKCD and is part of their experiments. He and the rest of the Gladers attempts to escape the facility and face the dangers of the wastelands outside: The Scorch.
This sequel starts out strong with a mystery on what the doctors of the facility are doing to the rest of the boys that is being taken there. The film gives at least half an hour for this small chunk of the story to form and it really looks promising. It adds up to the excitement of the story, although it's not as impactful as the mysteriousness of the maze in the first movie. But after they discover the secret and escape the facility, things started to get a bit slow.
A Lot Of Great Chases and Action
It's Maze Runner. So even if we omit the maze, the characters would still end up running (it was a joke). But seriously, the movie does feature a lot of chase scenes with the characters running around and doing lots of stunts which brings you back the memories of the thrills of the first movie (remember when Thomas and Minho were running from the turning Blades inside the Maze?).
One of my favorite scenes in particular was the part when the Gladers went inside a derelict building (I think it was an abandoned mall) to hide from the sandstorm. As they venture inside of it, they encountered these virus infected people turned zombies (that were known as Cranks) that were really scary. It's even scarier than the infected from 28 Days Later or World War Z. That part when the zombies were chasing after them was just so fun to watch and is probably one of the best sequences from the whole film.
Another action-packed scene that I also loved from the film features Thomas and the rest of the Gladers as they escape WCKD after hiding in a facility. They escaped with the help of Brenda (Rosa Salazar) and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito) as the whole place explode to the tune of Jorge's favorite music.
Problems with Movies In-Between Sequels
The biggest bummer in this film is that this is only the second movie in a planned four-part series so the audience is somehow stuck between the first movie (which is way better than this one) and the upcoming third installment. People are left hanging with so many questions that adds up to the previous questions that we had from the first film (which are still not resolved or answered up to now).
Basically, for us to know what happened next, we really need to wait for another year to come for the next sequel. Honestly, this is just too depressing because you're left asking the same question for a whole year before you can get the answers. We've been treated this way so many times, from Harry Potter, Twilight, Divergent, and The Hunger Games franchises. It feels like this has been the trend for studios nowadays to get more money from their series, which really makes the whole waiting time much more frustrating.
Verdict: Satisfying as a sequel, but not as entertaining as the first one, The Scorch Trials is yet another disappointing sequel. Just like earlier of this year's Insurgent movie, this YA adaptation suffers from lack of the originality and thrills of it's predecessor.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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