"The maze was just the beginning"
Wow, two reviews in two days! I really am making up for lost time! Scorch Trials is the second instalment in the Maze Runner trilogy, based on the awesome book series by James Dashner. Thomas, Minho, Newt and Teresa return to the big screen to fight WCKD.
Scorch Trials picks up from where Maze Runner ends. Thomas and his friends have broken out WCKD's headquarters, and are transported to a fortified facility in the middle of the Scorch, a desolate swathe of burned land teeming with virus-infested Cranks (aka zombies), only to find out that they still haven't escaped from WCKD. With the help of a new ally, Thomas and his friends stage an escape into the Scorch.Now the Gladers' only hope may be to find the Right Arm, a resistance group that may assist them in battling WCKD.
When I read the Maze Runner series, I was amazed. The Scorch Trials was my favourite book in the series and the trailer gave me goosebumps whenever I watched it, so I was expecting a lot from the movie. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Now, I know that when a book is made into a movie (movie-fied as I like to say), I do understand that the producers and screenwriters can't make everything the same, but at the same time, they can't change the entire story. But here, I'm disappointed to say that it was as if the book had never even existed in the first place. The story had been tweaked in so many ways. One major difference is that Brenda was not immune to the virus (known as the Flare). In the book, her being immune to the Flare forms an integral part in driving the story forward. That element will now be missing from the next movie. Also, if Brenda was not immune, she shouldn't even have been alive when Thomas and her friends met her. There were also so many other small errors which I noticed. For example, everyone seems to be very cold since they're wearing jackets and their breath is frosting. They are supposed to be in the Scorch, which is meant to be scorchingly hot. I felt that some of the new characters introduced, like Vince and Mary were useless. They were not needed for the story. Meanwhile, characters like Newt and Aris should have held more importance, but their roles were downgraded. Indeed, there were some points in the movie where I forgot that Newt was even present. Another speaking point is that for some aspects of the movie, like the enzyme cure and the Flare virus should have been accompanied by some more information, especially for the Flare. Anyways, there were some parts of the movie I really liked. The special effects were amazing. Everything looked very real and convincing, especially the ruined buildings. They gave the excellent backdrop a dystopian world. The Cranks exceeded my expectations. I was expecting something similar to the zombies from World War Z, but what I saw was much better. They looked quite scary and creepy to me. Dylan O'Brien impressed as he did in first film, and hopefully he keeps that going.
- Genre- science fiction, action and adventure
- Director- Wes Ball
- Producers- Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen and Lee Stollman
- Starring- Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Rosa Salazar, Jacob Lofland, Giancarlo Esposito and Aidan Gillen
My rating
6/10
Picture from- http://cdn1-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/2015/03/scorch-trials-header.jpg
Video from- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-44_igsZtgU
