Maze Runner: The Death Cure - movie review
Maze Runner: The Death Cure
Plot: Young hero Thomas embarks on a mission to find a cure for a deadly disease known as the "Flare".
Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster
Director: Wes Ball
Certificate: 12A (moderate violence, threat, language)
Runtime: 2hrs 21 mins
Release Date: Friday 26th January 2018
When the first Maze Runner came to our screens in 2014, the response was surprising. It didn't suck! For once, a tween dystopian action/drama was fairly watchable. Parallels to Lord Of The Flies could be drawn and it posed an interesting mystery that kept you hooked for the runtime. Also, it didn't fall victim to the countless identical plot devices that this genre seems so happy to exploit. I have no qualms in saying that The Maze Runner seemed to be a worthwhile entry into this genre. That was, until the sequel. Maze Runner: Scorch Trials changed the entire outlook of the franchise and not for the better. Scorch Trials was one of my least favourite films of 2015. It contained every single trope of a typical tween dystopian adventure and sucked the joy out of everything. I hated that film and because Scorch Trials left such a bad taste in my mouth, it's safe to say that I wasn't overly anticipating Death Cure.
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| Everyone hated getting the bus to school. |
Putting all of you Maze Runner fans out of your elongated misery, Death Cure is a vast improvement upon Scorch Trials and serves more as a course correction for the franchise rather than completely redeeming itself. Death Cure follows on soon after Scorch Trials as Thomas (O'Brien) and his band of merry renegade warriors prepare to launch an attack on the mysterious evil corporation of WCKD (no, really, that is their name) who seem to be exploiting children in the hope of finding a cure for a worldwide disease epidemic. It sounds more convoluted than it actually is but one thing that I can't deny about Death Cure is that the stakes have well and truly been raised and they've spared no expense in regards to the action. Bullets fly thick and fast, people are running left, right and centre and explosions are everywhere to be seen. As far as conclusions go in the tween dystopian world, Death Cure is a brilliant example of how to correctly end a franchise. The balls have been thrown to the wall and the final act of Death Cure is more reminiscent to a huge summer blockbuster due to impressive visual effects and well choreographed action set pieces. Because of this non-stop action approach (for nearly the entire two hour and twenty minute runtime), I was rarely ever bored which is something I can't say about its predecessor. Do you feel the runtime tick by? As the film nears the two hour mark and you realise the conclusion will just be gigantic set piece after gigantic set piece, the entertainment begins to grate and you wish it would hurry up and end. What Death Cure, and the original Maze Runner, proved to me was that director, Wes Ball, is more than capable of directing a solid action film. In fact, despite not personally being won over by the scripts of these films, Ball has little to do with those and the direction for all three films (yes, including Scorch Trials) has been particularly impressive and so, I'd like to see what he can do with an original script and tackle a big blockbuster unconnected to any source material. However, despite Death Cure being innocuous enough for two and bit hours and not wanting to plunge my head into a bucket full of piranhas the entire time *ahem* Scorch Trials *ahem*, Death Cure suffers from one fatal problem; I just don't care about anything to do with it.
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| The sexual tension is palpable. |
FACT: Ironically, the hardest and most dangerous scene to film, the opening train Sequence, the scene that caused the film to be delayed a year, wasn't even in the book.
I understand that you should judge a film on its individual morals and shouldn't critique something for what it's been guilty of in the past but Death Cure follows directly on from Scorch Trials and as an overall conclusion, the success of the previous films depends on how invested you are to each installment. Unfortunately for Death Cure, Scorch Trials sapped me of any hope I had for the Maze Runner franchise leading me to believe that the first film in the series was a fluke. Throughout the second film, I lost complete interest in any of the characters, their motivations or the identical plot for EVERY SINGLE TWEEN DYSTOPIAN MOVIE. If you aren't already aware of this plot that literally appears in every single one of these films dating back to 2012 with The Hunger Games (and possibly even further back), allow me to explain. Usually the films focus their attention on a young, good looking teenager that, more often than not, is played by a twenty-something year old. This protagonist is good natured but not afraid to throw down if the situation calls for it. Then, inadvertently, they are placed into life or death scenarios in which they are usually forced to protect themselves from other, more volatile, teens. Finally, the protagonist escapes their current predicament, discovers they are the chosen one and realises there is a far more sinister plot afoot at the hands of a evil, adult run corporation who are always dressed in white. To say that this story has been done to death, is a serious understatement. It's now reaching a point of obscenity. So, because of this disassociation with everything related to Maze Runner thanks to Scorch Trials, Death Cure served only as a visual treat but little else. Understandably, the stakes are high and if you're committed to this franchise and a fan, then you are probably going to get quite a lot out of this film. Personally, I just didn't care enough and so when Death Cure takes some moments of downtime to wrap up character arcs, that was when I began to zone out. As for the performances themselves, there aren't any bad ones per say but no standouts either. Dylan O'Brien continues his streak of being a real talent but having a knack of starring in lesser quality films. Thomas was always a vapid and dull character in my eyes, and whilst O'Brien is charming and charismatic, he's still lacking the ability to make Thomas an interesting protagonist. As for the supporting cast, Thomas Brodie-Sangster was impressive in this film and he shares a good relationship with Thomas which I'd probably care about if they didn't butcher it all back in 2015 and Kaya Scodelario is average at best.
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| Same. |
Whilst Maze Runner: The Death Cure is an easy to watch, inoffensive conclusion to a rocky trilogy, it can't quite get over the hurdles that its predecessor set in its path. The action is exciting and it's enjoyable to watch but if you haven't been won over by the franchise yet or, like me, you've been burned before, this isn't going to resonate that heavily with you.
My Verdict: 6/10
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