The Sci-Fi action film, “Maze Runner: Scorch Trials,” starring Dylan O’Brien, Kayla Scodelario and Thomas Brodie- Sangster, opened in U.S. theaters last Friday.
Being the second movie in the Maze Runner series, it arrived with great expectations from the movie’s director, Wes Ball. Although the screenplay writer (T.S. Mowlin) tweaked the novel writer’s (James Dasher’s) work, the movie had a successful opening weekend.
According to Scott Mendelson’s article in Forbes Magazine, “Maze Runner: Scorch Trials” made $30.3 million in the U.S. on opening weekend and has made over $100 million worldwide. The “Scorch Trials” opening weekend was, in fact, slightly lower than the first movie, “The Maze Runner,” on its opening weekend which was a $32.5 million opening weekend.
Rigid interpretation from the previous film infers that Thomas (O’Brien) and his friends had definitely been kept in some sort of maze by the heinous organization called WCKD. The movie does not hold back on jumping right into the plot.
Lead character, Thomas (O’Brien), opens the film with a vivid nightmare of his experience in the maze that he just escaped from. Thomas and his gang of maze victims are brought to a compound for “safe keeping” from the devilish, WCKD. Secrets are revealed when Thomas meets Aris, a maze conspirator.
Aris joins Thomas and his group of friends to escape from WCKD for good after they discover the safe haven compound is secretly run by WCKD. When they escape, they realize the world they are now entering is just as dangerous as the world they were trapped in.
“The Scorch” is filled with mutant-like zombies who are after any living thing. Luckily, some of the maze refugees are immune to the virus, but nobody wants to get close enough to find out who is and who is not.
New York Times writer, John Williams said, “‘The Scorch Trials’ adds nothing new to the unkillable dystopian genre, but it’s at least less ponderous than its predecessor. The many chases and ludicrous narrow escapes offer respectable doses of adrenaline.”
The entire 131 minutes is full of twists and turns that will leave the audience on the edge of their seat. It is safe to say that “The Scorch Trials” is a wonderful lead into the third movie. The entire theater audience is left with a question of what Thomas, his friends and the right arm army would do to get revenge on WCKD once and for all.
“What do we do now?” Newt (Brodie-Sangster) asked at the end of the movie. Thomas (O’Brien) followed with an elaborate speech about how their escape would almost be cowardice. They should fight for those who are unable to escape. That last scene alone was a hint to the audience that there will be a third movie. “The Maze Runner” series is no longer about escape, it is about freedom.
