Earlier this year I watched The Maze Runner on DVD and I was pleasantly surprised by the “next” young adult book series which has been turned into a movie series and where every year a new part is released (I do hope that the last film in the series will not be split into two parts because it is at the moment one of my biggest frustration for both the Hunger Games as Divergent series). The advantage of seeing the first film in February, I only had to wait a couple of months for the next part, which I was really looking forward to. Is The Scorch Trials as good as the first part?
This second part starts in the middle of the story, without even taking a moment to remind you what happened in the first part. I remembered that the group had escaped from the maze, but had forgotten what they went looking for. A good tip is to at least take a moment to watch the last couple of scenes of the first part or read the Wikipedia page before you start with this.
After the group is rescued, they are taken to a place where they are safe and protected from the dangers in the world, including the Cranks. Thomas feels like more is going on at the facility and when he meets Aris Jones (who has been there for a while) starts investigating. He decides to leave their safe shelter to find out what exactly is going on in the world and to find out if there are other safe places on earth.
Without knowledge of the books on which the films are based, the film managed to surprise me several times. The film was also much darker compared to the original. The Cranks are mentioned a number of times, but aren’t initially shown, so you have no idea what effect of the disease on them has been. They quickly find out, because during their search they see that the world is filled with World War Z zombies. These are not the slow moving (half) dead, but the aggressive, rabid and running specimen that just won’t stop attacking. It adds to this second part, a zombie survival element which is used effectively in various action moments. The end result is an entertaining film, which perhaps doesn’t have too much character development, but you do learn more about the world. It’s an interesting setup for the next film.
I am glad to see that you enjoyed this one as much as you did. I must admit that I was NOT taken with it. I mirror your sentiments, I hope they do not split the final movie into two, it’s really annoying when that happens.
Well, if they do that I won’t visit the cinema for it, just like I’m planning to do with the new Divergent movies.