"They
are tirelessly running but are not going anywhere.”
The Gladers are done solving the maze. Now, it is time to do
some running.
The Maze Runner
rocked 2014 when it featured juveniles figuring their way out of a grand-scale
labyrinthine experimental prison. Now, the escapees are back on another
colossal adventure. In Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, still
based on James Dashner’s best-selling young adult trilogy and with returning
director Wes Ball, our badass pack
will find themselves chased by zombies across miles-stretch of oppressive
desert.
The sequel immediately takes off after the events of the
first movie. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and the rest of the Gladers are transported
to another high-security facility. Janson (Aidan Gillen), a turtleneck-clad man
who appears to be running the compound’s operation, offers them food, clothes,
bed and shelter. On top of those, he promises them protection from WCKED (World
Catastrophe Killzone Department), the pseudo-government agency tasked with
finding the cure for a viral plague that decimated humanity after a massive
solar flare.
The Gladers and all the survivors from other mazes are
gathered together every dinner and some are randomly whisked away to presumably
new homes. Thomas does not feel right about it and with the help of Aris (Jacob
Lofland), he finds out that Janson is secretly communicating with Ava Paige
(Patricia Clarkson), WCKD’s matriarchal doctor, and that the facility performs
despicable medical experiments on the kids.
Immediately, Thomas gathers his troop and once again escapes
another WCKD dungeon. They travel through the Scorch, an urban center turned
desert, and are chased by the virus-infected fast-moving zombies called Cranks.
En route, they meet mercenary leader Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito) and his feisty
daughter Brenda (Rosa Salazar) in an abandoned factory, and together, they head
to a distant mountain range where they hope to connect with the rebel group
known as the Right Arm Camp led by Vince (Barry Pepper) and Mary Cooper (Lili Taylor).
Maze Runner: The
Scorch Trials is grander than its predecessors in all aspects. It contains
more characters, back stories, locations, and energy. It is paced faster and features
more expansive, breathtaking visuals. While the first film condemned the teen
to cracking the wonders of the labyrinth, the sequel pushes them to confront
the enemies and expose their atrocities. There are no mazes this time; instead,
there are plenty of places and nooks to run to. The present movie may be larger
in scale but bigger does not necessarily better. It lacks the same sense of
mystery and urgency found in the first instalment. It is also very episodic and
redundant as the guys run from one location to another and from one adult to
another, and yet, they are essentially never going anywhere. These chases are
repetitive and gruelling but director Ball manages to keep the film thrilling
by sustaining visual dynamism and by playfully shooting each frame. It has
plenty of tropes borrowed from drama, thriller and horror genre (i.e. zombie hunt,
Brenda on the glass pane) but he makes them appear refreshing and exciting. The
locations are also expensively designed, particularly the ruined skyscrapers in
the Scorch.
With so much going on, there is no significant plot advancement
as any emerging fact gets lost in the chase or too murky to reinforce the
storyline. Details of the plague have always been very vague and connection
between the solar flare and the spread of deadly virus, as well as the curative
enzyme coming from the young ones, are not convincingly discussed. With the
overflow of back stories, there has been nothing about Ava Paige and her
antagonism is rather speculative and impersonal.
In connection to this, the present film offers no character
development and the group appears less cohesive than before. With all that
running and with the characters purely spontaneous about it, there is no time for
their personalities to grow or the audience to be given a deeper sense of
understanding of who they are. Thomas is still a subtly withdrawn individual and
O’Brien is quite efficient in withholding emotions. His buddies are just as
before – Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) remains snappy and clowny, Frypan (Dexter
Darden) unmotivated, Minho (Ki Hong Lee) reliable and supportive, and Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) pessimistic and mysterious. While Clarkson, Pepper, andTaylor seem underused, Gillen’s Janson is a
futuristic version of his HBO’s Game of Thrones
Baelish. Thanks to Esposito and Salazar for bringing comic vibes to this overly
self-serious movie.
Maze Runner: The
Scorch Trials is grander but vaguer as its lack of specificity keeps
audience in the dark as to the motivations of the characters and events. It is
crazily more energetic and with more stunning visuals; yet, it becomes
exhausting and suffocating early on because of repetitiveness and scarcity of
emotional investment.
Production companies: Gotham Group, Temple
Hill Entertainment
Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Patricia Clarkson,
Giancarlo Esposito, Kaya Scodelario, Aidan Gillen, Ki Hong Lee, Rosa Salazar,
Lili Taylor, Barry Pepper, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Dexter Darden, Alexander
Flores, Jacob Lofland
Director: Wes Ball
Screenwriter: T.S. Nowlin
Producers: Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Wyck
Godfrey, Marty Bowen, Lee Stollman, Joe Hartwick Jr.
Executive producers: Lindsay Williams,
Eddie Gamarra, Wes Ball, T.S. Nowlin
Director of photography: Gyula Pados
Production designer: Daniel T. Dorrance
Costume designer: Sanja Milkovic Hays
Editor: Dan Zimmerman
Music: John Paesano
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