Movie Review: 'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials'
By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- From the Maze into the Scorch, otherwise known as from the frying pan into the fire.
That's the situation the teenage characters running through the Maze Runner franchise find themselves in in the second installment, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, having somehow escaped from the maze that entrapped them in the first adventure.
The trilogy of dystopian thrillers is based on the best-selling Young Adult science fiction series by author James Dashner about a group of young people whose memories have been erased who are trapped in a gigantic and life-threatening labyrinth.
The sequel picks up where its predecessor left off, with the young principals running into the arms of a paramilitary group known as WCKD (pronounced "Wicked"), which has been creating sanctuaries ever since a solar flare singed Earth, unleashing a lethal virus.
But these safe havens have turned out to be anything but safe.
Which is why protagonist Thomas, played by Dylan O'Brien (from television's Teen Wolf), who has already seen several close friends die, is attempting so desperately to flee the maze he and everyone else is trapped in.
Beyond that, because he's been an influential leader whom the others are strongly influenced by, Thomas feels guiltily responsible for leading them into dangerous, even deadly, situations.
Now they must navigate a sandy wasteland aptly called the Scorch, a vast desert littered with crumbling cities and guerilla resistance fighters.
Wes Ball, who debuted as a director on The Maze Runner -- and is reportedly the most likely director of the third installment, Maze Runner: The Death Cure in 2017 – gets very similar results with the first sequel to those he achieved with the original.
Once again, Lord of the Flies can't help but be recalled as a template of sorts and technical production values like cinematography and editing and special effects are effective and sound, serving the story and intriguing central mystery without being unnecessarily showy.
Patricia Clarkson returns as the mysterious no-nonsense antagonist working for a totalitarian regime, but what's different about this outing is that it's slightly more emotional than the first one. It's also decidedly more adult in its concerns, as is reflected in the prominent grown-up additions to the supporting cast, including Giancarlo Esposito, Barry Pepper, Aidan Gillen, and Lili Taylor.
Although it sometimes seems that the cast does more running then acting, the acting is actually pretty strong among Ball's primarily young cast, even higher, frankly, higher than it needs to be. O'Brien leads the way and he's a natural.
But, as with such other youth-oriented franchises as The Hunger Games and Harry Potter, the chief mission of this in-between episode is to progress in the direction of its cliffhanger ending and deliver an anticipatory audience to the doorstep of the next installment.
Mission accomplished.
Still, given that it's well-made and watchable, what's the harm?
So we'll run past 2½ stars out of 4 for the solid science fiction sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. Dramatically, it doesn't exactly scorch, but it's no trial to sit through either.
