A Dynamic and Engaging Sequel in a Post-Apocalyptic World
Emerging from the Maze, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), and their companions find themselves in the clutches of a military group. Janson (Aidan Gillen), the group’s leader, claims to be rescuing teenagers from the Mazes, transporting them to a safe haven beyond the reach of WICKED, the military-medical organization controlling the Mazes. The heroes also discover that solar flares have scorched the earth, and a virus has transformed much of humanity into zombies. The only hope for the uninfected lies in the immune children from the Mazes. Initially, the group believes Janson, but Thomas soon uncovers their deception, prompting a daring escape from the complex. Venturing outside, they find themselves in a desert that was once California, setting their sights on the mountains, where they believe a rebel army opposing WICKED is hiding.
Fox studio greenlit the sequel, “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials,” just two weeks before the first film’s release, based on early positive reviews.
The Inspiration Behind the Story
What was James Dashner smoking when he wrote the sequel to “The Maze Runner”? While this question is often rhetorical and ironic, in this case, it’s a genuine inquiry into what substances the American author might have indulged in, fueled by the commercial success of the first novel in the “Maze Runner” series. Penning a book as incoherent as “The Scorch Trials” seems unlikely without a journey into a drug-induced astral plane. Perhaps Dashner’s natural state is simply as “out there” as others are under the influence of heroin.
Knowing what awaited the characters of last year’s hit adaptation of “The Maze Runner” in the sequel, we eagerly anticipated how director Wes Ball and his team would navigate the situation. Would they succumb to the author’s madness, or would they attempt to transform “The Scorch Trials” into a somewhat logical post-apocalyptic blockbuster? Having seen the film, we’re pleased to report that Ball chose the latter path. Screenwriter Thomas Nowlin significantly reworked “The Scorch Trials,” resulting in a captivating teenage adventure rather than a descent into lunacy.
Familiar Themes and New Challenges
However, Nowlin, while professional, is no genius. His “Scorch Trials” is a perfect “Spot the Reference” game, with homages at every turn. “Resident Evil,” “Divergent”/“Insurgent,” “Mad Max,” “The Walking Dead”… the list goes on. All the colors of the post-apocalypse are present, except perhaps “Waterworld” and “Snowpiercer,” as the land in “The Maze Runner” is scorched and dehydrated (the once-port city of San Francisco now stands in the middle of a desert). To the left, zombies; to the right, bandits nesting in the ruins of civilization; ahead, mysterious rebels; behind, a ruthless military organization; and all around, desert, mountains, and the ruins of a metropolis (from fallen skyscrapers to monster-infested sewers). At the center, a handful of teenagers whose blood contains a cure for the survivors of the global catastrophe. However, the extraction of this cure is so unpleasant that the teens are not eager to undergo the procedure. Thus, Thomas and his friends scour the desert in search of those who will protect them from WICKED.
The party scene in the ruined city was filmed in a real building – the so-called “Zachary Castle” in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s a small but impressive Gothic-style mansion built for Gertrude Zachary, the founder of a well-known jewelry company in the state.
They don’t find paradise on earth, of course (if they did, the series would end, and the teens have one more, final adventure awaiting them). Instead, they regularly encounter highly aggressive and fast-running zombies, as well as new, colorful characters. Among the latter, the sinisterly charming Janson, played by Gillen (Petyr Baelish from “Game of Thrones”), and the surprisingly intelligent bandit leader Jorge, played by Giancarlo Esposito from “Breaking Bad,” stand out. Both are highlights of the film, along with WICKED’s leader Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson), whom we already saw at the end of “The Maze Runner.”
Fast-Paced Action Over Character Development
The film is packed with characters, new information, and new locations, moving at breakneck speed. Despite its two-hour runtime, it leaves little room for character development or heartfelt conversations. In this regard, “The Scorch Trials” differs significantly from “The Maze Runner,” which was primarily interesting for the evolution of relationships between the characters. Tellingly, a young man named Aris, who joins Thomas’s group at the beginning of the film, remains mostly silent throughout, proving useful only at the start and end of the story. Even Jorge’s protégé, Brenda (Rosa Salazar from “Divergent, Chapter 2: Insurgent”), who forms a sort of love triangle with Thomas and Teresa, receives only the necessary minimum of scenes to introduce herself and establish her place in the plot. Want more? Sorry. The director and screenwriter deemed numerous action scenes and familiarizing viewers with all aspects of the post-apocalyptic world more important than delving into the souls of the key characters.
A Complex Moral Landscape
We would have preferred the film to include both. However, we understand the choices made by the creators of “The Scorch Trials” and can’t particularly fault them. Teenage melodramas should be sought in other theaters. “The Scorch Trials” is the middle chapter of a three-part epic cycle, and since the first film saw the characters in an artificially created world surrounded by silent robots, it was vital to spend the second film demonstrating how the world truly works and which factions oppose each other. “The Scorch Trials” accomplishes these tasks quite well, and its dynamism, tension, abundance of plot twists, and rare but appropriate jokes prevent prolonged contemplation of the script’s one-sidedness.
Pleasingly, the film doesn’t forget to remind us that it’s not depicting a simple battle between absolute Good and absolute Evil. WICKED operates with Stalinist or even Hitlerian methods, but it pursues “correct” goals, and no one else in the world can do more to save humanity than the scientists and soldiers of this organization. So, when Thomas encounters WICKED agents at every turn, he’s not particularly surprised. Many people, for selfish or noble reasons, believe that WICKED must prevail. It’s also clear that the “quest” of Thomas and his friends is to save their own skins, not humanity. And while the sympathies of the audience and the filmmakers lie with the teens, it’s nice that the film contains a complex moral equation with multiple possible solutions. If only “The Scorch Trials” were a bit more original, and its action scenes a bit more grand… But it’s still good – certainly better than “Insurgent” and the first installment of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.”