Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials - A run for disaster

There is something about young adult adventure movie that translates successfully in prints but not quite so on the silver screen. Just like this epic saga trilogy by James Dashner, Maze Runner.

The sequel for Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is not as groundbreaking as what its trailer portrayed it to be. In fact, there’s nothing groundbreaking at all about this sequel.

Director, Wes Ball’s attempt to regain from the flaws from the last installment, has yet again directed this sequel to a bigger ‘maze’ of confusion and more flaws.

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The Gladers face a new set of challenging obstacles to survive in an unknown, dystopic and desolate landscape. All pictures courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.

The story telling is botchy and there is a failure in building up the main characters. It is made up of endless scenes of young adults, boys and girls, alike, leading and racing each other to safety and security from being devoured by zombies and adults. In this film, almost all adults are villains like Aidan Gillen who plays the evil Janson and Patricia Clarkson as the head of all evil, Ava Paige.

Amidst layers and layers of science fiction factoids and scenarios, weaved in betrayal, it gets more and more confusing and detached from the first series. It was almost impossible to fathom what this sequel is trying to reveal.

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Dylan O'Brien plays Thomas in one of the tensed moments in searching for clues that can help save his life and the rest of his fellow Gladers

In this sequel, the next chapter of the epic Maze Runner saga, Thomas played by Dylan O’Brien and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.

Initially, the movie feels more controlled and smaller than the first movie, maybe because the sense of claustrophobia that it sends with the scenes mostly takes place underground. It later got slightly familiar when more and more protagonist got introduced; making Thomas’s character less and less outstanding.

It feels like the producers and writers are running out of ideas with this one. Well, let’s see if the last of this trilogy can make up for all this confusion.

Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Patricia Clarkson, Aidan Gillen, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Kaya Scodelario

Directed by: Wes Ball

Writers: T.S. Nowlin (screenplay), James Dashner (novel)

Release date: 10 September 2015, Twentieth Century Fox

Watch Maze Runner:The Scorch Trials trailer here: