‘Maze Runner’ worse than a misfire for filmmakers
One of the survivors of the young adult novel-to-film-adaptations, "The Maze Runner," managed to earn just enough at the box office to solidify a sequel. And if you are having a difficult time trying to keep separate the post-apocalyptic, dystopian-lite future narratives (“The Hunger Games,” “Divergent,” “Ender’s Game”), this sequel, “The Scorch Trials,” is not the film in which to dip your toes.
Made almost exclusively for followers of the first film and/or the books upon which it is based, “Trials” does nothing to invite outsiders to its end-of-the-world party.
No flashbacks, no recap, no exposition - just right into the action: “Trials” places us alongside its attractively bland (or blandly attractive) lead Thomas (played by Dylan O’Brien) moments after he and his fellow survivors escape the first film’s maze. At least it provides us with an ending to the first film’s most frustrating aspects: a finale that was merely a setup for more to come (a sin repeated here, but more on that later).
They are taken into shelter where they meet survivors of similar mazes. And while all within view it as a holding facility to a rosy future (because, you know, that’s what they are told by the shelter’s dubious leader), Thomas wonders why there are a few who are escorted to another part of the facility and never heard from again, which is a fate that befalls his friend Teresa (played by Kaya Scodelario).
He and his buddies find Teresa in a holding area in which some are hooked up to multiple IVs (shades of “The Matrix”) and being “harvested” for something that will presumably stop the virus that has helped turn the Earth into such a rotting hellhole.
The film then goes from its “Hunger Games”-like beginning to something resembling “Mad Max” for tweens (“Mildly Agitated Max?”), where the group wanders the countryside encountering various surviving tribes, testing their survival skills, meeting quasi-recognizable character actors who didn’t land roles in any of the “Hunger Games” or “Divergent” films (Barry Pepper! Lily Taylor! Alan Tudyk! Giancarlo Esposito!) and eluding the nefarious leaders of their former “shelter.”
Scenes are marked by various dangers, none of which are explained, but all seem as though they’ve been borrowed from other films/books in order to give our heros a few hurdles to clear before making it to their final destination (and for publishers and producers to make a few bucks from another installment). And while a couple of them may be exciting (and rather violent for the target audience), the sum of the parts does not equal an engaging two-plus hours of entertainment for the uninitiated.
The books that serve as films’ source are diverting enough and don’t plumb “Twilight” -level depths of idiocy, but it’s not the most complex narrative series on the market (the evildoers are called the World Catastrophe Killzone Department, an acronym that is pronounced “wicked,” for crying out loud!).
Director Wes Ball had moments of authentic suspense building in the original, and despite its abrupt ending, managed to mount a strong initial entry into the series. But, with “Scorch,” he commits to the same ellipsis-like conclusion, and does little to make this film feel as though it could exist on its own. It ends merely with a big question mark for everyone left standing. The bad guys are essentially right where they began. The rebels are still rebelling (despite a casualty or two). And no one of significance seems to have grown as a result (even Thomas once again declares he must return to the proverbial hornet’s nest to save a captured friend).
“The Scorch Trials” is worse than a misfire from filmmakers. It does not even give itself a real purpose to exist.
