Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Release Date: September 16, 2015
Directed by: Wes Ball
Screenplay by: T.S. Nowlin
Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Patricia Clarkson, Aidan Gillen
Rated: PG-13
Disclaimer: I haven’t read the books.
Well, I’m not overly impressed with this sequel, but I’m also not completely unhappy with it.
This movie is so much different than the first one. Obviously, in the first movie, The Maze Runner, they spend one-hundred percent of the film inside the maze. In this one, they’re out and about in the world. This definitely changed the whole feel of the movie.
First off, the pacing was a little wonky. The beginning feels rushed. I mean, Thomas discovers they’re WCKD within 10 minutes. I don’t know if that’s how it happened in the book, but I feel the film-makers wanted that part to be figured out as quickly as possible so they could show off the world outside.
Which is where the movie kind of dragged on for me. They just kept encountering one random town/untrustworthy person after another. With dialogue and a plot that I wasn’t fully following. I never felt like I had a good grasp of who was who or what the hell was going on. Characters were coming and going and there were a few random scenes that didn’t seem necessary and threw off the pacing for me.
There also wasn’t a lot of character development. Outside of Thomas and his crew, characters didn’t stick around long enough to really be developed. Like I said, characters were coming and going a lot. Also, Teresa was still just…there…to act all morose, I guess? Aidan Gillen kind of played a futuristic Petyr Baelish; Patricia Clarkson and Giancarlo Esposito were definitely underused.
This film does have some pretty cool settings, though. I’m a sucker for anything post-apocalyptic/dystopian so, naturally, all the decimated cities, run-down building and different makeshift communities, were all things I definitely got into. Oh, and zombies. Who could go wrong with some zombies? And they were pretty creepy. I wanted more!
I just wish the story was better.
Because, really, the whole movie just ends with them right back where they started.
Which film did you like better? The Maze Runner or Scorch Trials?
11 Comments
I totally agree with you! I LOVED The Maze Runner and bought it as soon as it was released, even though I really didn’t care for the book. I saw The Scorch Trials in theaters and thought it was an okay movie, but definitely not as good as the first. It also deviated A LOT from the book. I talked about it here. I agree about Teresa too. NOT a fan of her at all. Great review!
Tracy @ Cornerfolds
I really loved The Maze Runner! I haven’t read the books, though, so I don’t know how they compare. The first movie was a lot better than the second. I feel like they are two COMPLETELY different movies (I mean, obviously they are, but they don’t even have the same feel. Does that make sense?) Teresa is a dumb character. She serves absolutely no purpose lol
I have to many things to say about this movie, and many fall in line with things we’ve already discussed. Mainly hollywood destroying books adaptations and sequels that have nothing to do with the original story plot. (Also, why is that becoming a trend?)
As a movie itself, following the Maze Runner movie and pretending I haven’t read the books? It’s not half bad. I agree with what you said about the pacing and Theresa. (Honestly, she’s never been a character I liked, but she wasn’t THIS terrible in the books. Well. She had a little more emotion, anyway.) The zombies I loved, and they totally creeped me out – I would NOT want to face them in the zombie apocalypse. Who can run that fast all the time? Lol. And YES for Petyr Baelish 🙂 Aidan Gillen did a wonderful job I think.
Now. All of that being said. If you read the books, the movie was terrible. Almost NOTHING in the book was kept in the movies. Like, 90% of the main plot points were completely changed or left out. They escape from WCKD. Thomas meets Brenda. There’s a trek across the dessert. Theresa’s a bitch. That’s pretty much it. BUT THERE’S SO MUCH THAT HAPPENS IN THE BOOK. Honestly, the Scorch Trials might be my favourite book in the series, and as a fan of the books, I was hugely disappointed in the movie.
Regardless, we both know I’ll still buy the movie and just “pretend” right along with the rest of the fandom (just like we all did with Divergent/Insurgent)
I think the only thing I really enjoyed in the movie were the zombies, but even those were kind of random to me hahah.
Since I haven’t read the books, I can’t really comment on how much they changed. BUT it seems like they left out a lot & that’s kind of making me want to read the books. Which actually sucks, because I JUST gave both of them away thinking “I’ll never read these” hahaha xD
Yeah, the zombies were definitely entertaining (although yes, random, and not at all how I pictured they would be).
I think you should read the books if you ever stumble across another set, lol. I didn’t like the third one so much, mostly the first two. The prequel was entertaining and gave a lot of backstory on how the world got to be the way it was and how the people got infected (or turned into “zombies”). Although they’re releasing another prequel this year apparently.. about Thomas growing up with WCKD and all that. BUT if you don’t read the books, then you can just keep on enjoying the movies and you won’t have to compare them and it won’t tarnish your opinion so that’s also a bonus!
The prequels actually sound interesting as well. I love origin stories for post-apocalyptic worlds. I may have to get those books back lol
Yeah, I found I wasn’t really attached to the characters in the prequel, but it was still worth the read for me. Let me know if you end up getting them / reading them!
This is a movie I wanted to see (and to a lesser extent The Maze Runner too) just because it looked fun, and all the post apoc landscapes looked cool. I love post apoc too so I’m a sucker for that. I have not read the books and have seen mixed things, so I’ll probably just watch the movies. To bad the pacing and character development are off- I have a feeling if I HAD read the books I’d probably be really annoyed, based on your thoughts and Alisha’s comments also. I’m one of those people where deviations from the book generally irritate me (not always, but a lot). 🙂
I’ll definitely see it but will just go in with reasonable expectations. 🙂
The Maze Runner is better than this one. So, since you haven’t read the books (like me), you’ll probably like the first one at least!
Sometimes deviations from the book bother me, it just depends. Like for Insurgent, they completely changed the entire plot! That was stupid. But for minor changes to keep the audience entertained/progress the story a little faster, I don’t usually mind. Although, for the new Civil War movie coming out, there’s something they changed (I can tell from the previews) that I’m SUPERRRRR unhappy about lol
I noticed that sequels of books, especially dystopians and especially book-to-movie dystopian adaptations, have less than thrilling sequels. I read the first book a couple years ago and loved it for 90% of the book; seriously, I got chills. Yet, the ending and movie fell super flat for me and now I have no interest in the series. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the next installments more!
Sometimes the sequel just feels like filler. Like, the series could have done without ANY of the events in the second book/movie and it still would have made sense lol That could have something to do with the authors and their contracts. If they sign on for trilogies, they may have to stretch the story a little to make it long enough :/