Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials unfolds at a brisk pace and fleshes out Scodelario’s battle-scarred heroine, who was woefully short-changed in the first film. Therefore, that means it truly just puts the Divergent series to shame.
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All that running, which leads to Thomas’ pivotal line (an earned cliche!), “I’m tired of running”, must have sufficiently pumped up the young performers in the film.
Johnny Depp’s adult drama Black Mass also hits theaters this weekend after several high-profile stops on the fall festival circuit. The premise is intriguing, the characters generally engaging and it possesses some depth of emotion.
Ball has a talent for the action sequences, but the dialogue, by T.S. Nowlin (based on a James Dashner novel), rarely rises above pedestrian.
This time, it barely gives its young protagonists – or even the viewers – a chance to catch breath. A fellow resident, Aris (Jacob Lofland) helps him to confirm those suspicions. The problem arises when the story resolves that twist and the characters (played by returning stars Dylan O’Brien, Ki Hong Lee, and Kaya Scodelario) are forced to continue exploring the ruined world – in this case, an Earth that’s been scorched by a solar flare.
But getting there may present more danger than what they’re leaving. You’d think that a bunch of teenagers, all of whom were recently kidnapped and stranded to fight for their lives at the behest of a sinister paramilitary organization, would be at least a little suspicious of a supposedly different paramilitary operation that keeps them in close confinement and takes a handful of kids away each night for some sort of “promotion”, never to be seen again.
Crewmembers warned The Maze Runner actor and his co-stars to not disturb the sacred location, but they ignored the advice and O’Brien believes it’s no coincidence several people ended up getting sick.
And no lie: the Scorch Trials cast really did bond. O’Brien brings the necessary earnestness to his part and possesses a good deal of charisma to carry it through. He crams a lot into a script and at times it shows in the finished project which feels a bit bloated.
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Maybe so, but on this evidence, we have every reason to hope for a humdinger finale, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, scheduled for release in January 2017.
