USA 2015
Opening September 24, 2015
Directed by: Wes Ball
Writing credits: T.S. Nowlin, James Dashner
Principle actors: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster
Buckle your seat belts: the fast-paced film trilogy continues and what a fun Ride it is! Maze Runner: the Scorch Trials is the next chapter of The Maze Runner saga. The opening sequences of the film find Thomas (O’Brien), Teresa (Scodelario), Newt (Brodie-Sangster), and fellow Gladers (the band of maze runners) arriving at a mysterious facility where a powerful organization known as WCKD has taken on the role of caretaker/protector for this fugitive group of weary youthful travelers. Questions quickly arise as to the true intentions of WCKD’s leaders. Ultimately the Gladers escape and find themselves on the run in a desolate, diseased outside world, while they try to connect with rebel resistance fighters. The suspense builds, are the strangers they meet friend or foe?
This is a fast-paced film with lots and lots of action. The actors are in a CG landscape but it is scarily realistic. The young characters continue (even after their terrifying experiences in The Maze) to display human attributes of integrity, hope, courage, loyalty, resourcefulness and trust. The audeince leaves exhausted afer adrenalin-fueled escapes through deserts, abandoned cities and sheer rocky canyons. The final ordeal is surviving betrayal to all the other Gladers by one oft he main characters. Whew! The Scorch Trials is a very well executed action film leaving the viewer with the hope of a quick release of the third installment ()