Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) - Good CGI and young actors in strained dose of apocalypse

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An apocalyptic, sandy metropolis and a group of youngsters walking through it, on this poster for Wes Ball's Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

 

Thomas and a group of other boys and one girl, who have eloped the maze, smell something fishy on their new prison guards from WCKD, and they break free to discover a post-apocalyptic world!

 

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is written by T.S. Nowlin (Phoenix Forgotten (2017)), based on the same-titled 2010 novel by James Dashner (The Eye of Minds (2013)), and directed by Wes Ball (The Maze Runner (2014)). It is the 2nd film in the Maze Runner trilogy.

The young actors look remarkable unaged, despite the film claiming that 4 years has passed since the first film, (only released a year before.) The tone is the same in the teenage-fantasy horror/action/adventure, which is probably hard to connect with for most people who aren't teenagers. Fun or real thrills or surprises are lacking here; and the simple setup of an evil science class of people seems like near-nonsense.

New cast-member Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Godless (2017, miniseries)), returning star Dylan O'Brien (The First Time (2012)) and Co. meet scary zombies in the neat, CGI-driven world, and a depraved nightclub owner who stays open during the day. Whether everything here serves a deeper political meaning is hard to deduce. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is technically well-made but not really a good film.

 

Related post:

 

Wes Ball: The Maze Runner (2014) - O'Brien breakout, well-made YA nonsense

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 61 mil. $

Box office: 312.2 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 5.11 times its cost)

[Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials premiered 1 September (Sao Paolo, Brazil) and runs 131 minutes. Development of the film began before the release of the first Maze Runner in 2014. Shooting lasted 94 days and took place in New Mexico, including Albuquerque, from October 2014 - January 2015. The film opened #1 to a 30.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent 2 more weekends in the top 5 (#3-#5) and grossed 81.6 mil. $ (26.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 29.5 mil. $ (9.4 %) and France with 25.3 mil. $ (8.1 %). A concluding, again successful film was made and released as Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) by Ball, with O'Brien back. This was Ball's next film. O'Brien returned first in Deepwater Horizon (2016). Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is rotten at 46 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials?

The Maze Runner (2014) - O'Brien breakout, well-made YA nonsense

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Oozing of thrilling excitement and atmospheric visuals, a great poster for Wes Ball's The Maze Runner

 

A young man arrives to a mysterious green park ensconced in a giant labyrinth, where a group of boys live in uncertainty.

 

The Maze Runner is written by Noah Oppenheim (Jackie (2016)), Grant Pierce Myers (The Fog (2005, assistant)) and T.S. Nowlin (Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)), adapting the same-titled 2009 best-seller by James Dashner (A Gift of Ice (2004)), and directed by debuting Wes Ball (Time for Change (2002, digital effects artist)).

If you are able to lower your skeptic guards, this Lord of the Flies-reminiscent Young Adult flick is a rather immersive, well-made serving of fantasy/sci-fi nonsense. It presents a successful mix of practical and digital effects as well as an attractive star in Dylan O'Brien (High Road (2011)).

Audiences have to accept that, perhaps in honor of the film's major studio financing parent, the mostly teenage characters have no sexuality, don't ever change clothes or go to the bathroom; but their emotions are conversely maximized. SPOILER The ending of The Maze Runner makes the whole film seem a bit like a pre-credit sequence to the main story.

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 34 mil. $

Box office: 348.3 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 10.24 times its cost)

[The Maze Runner premiered 11 September (Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place from May - July 2013 in Louisiana. The film opened #1 to a 32.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#2-#5) and grossed 102.4 mil. $ (29.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 24.6 mil. $ (7.1 %) and China with 23.9 mil. $ (6.9 %). Successful sequels Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) were also with O'Brien, directed by Ball, who took them on as his next projects. O'Brien's next gig was the first sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. Dashner was ditched by his agent and publisher in 2018 following unsubstantiated #MeToo rumors of harassment. The Maze Runner is fresh at 65 % with a 5.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Maze Runner?