Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Review

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is the second film the series for the Maze Runner franchise and this film picks up literally a few moments after the first film concluded. Everyone is now out of the maze, but now what will they do? What’s the world like outside it? We see all this and more in this sequel. The film stars Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aidan Gillen and Ki Hong Lee. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials was directed by Wes Ball who also worked on the first film in the series.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Trailer

Maze Runner The Scorch Trials Review

The first film in the Maze Runner series was quite good and it had a very interesting and different feel to it, the plot had a lot of depth and it also had interesting characters to follow. There was also the added mystery of how they were going to get out of the maze. The special effects in the first film were quite good and all the music and sounds were well done. The second film in the series brings audiences about the same standard in quality with about the same depth to the plot as the first. However instead of an interesting maze, we have crazy zombies chasing our characters around, as well as a whole lot of fringe groups struggling to survive in a world that was scorched long ago.

In some ways the film is just as good as the first and doesn’t really disappoint at all. However in looking at the two films and having viewed both of them this week, it’s my opinion that the first in the series is a bit more creative and more enjoyable to watch. While this one does have some cool looking zombies, there are a lot of a zombie films out there at the moment and a lot of video games too. However, they are a bit scary at times and if I was still a teenager going along to see this film, I think I may have even gotten slightly scared. I did see quite a few people jump in the audience I was in at certain times.

The directing from Wes Ball for Scorch Trials was well done and the films pacing is great all the way through, with very few slow or boring moments. The only downer with the film is that the final few minutes are a complete set up to get audiences in to see the next Maze Runner film and the film loses some steam as a result of this. But all of it was well done and I have no reason not to recommend the film to a teen audience. It’s very enjoyable and it’s almost as good as the first one.

The actors all do a fine job in Scorch Trials with Ki Hong Lee, Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Kaya Scodelario all getting their chance to shine here and there. It’s not necesarily a film where anyone is going to win awards for their acting and the dialogue isn’t the best, but the script writers gave everyone enough to do to keep things interesting. Aidan Gillen, who some will recognise as Littlefinger from Game Of Thrones plays the villain in Scorch Trials and does a well enough job, however he’s unlikely to be the most memorable villain of 2015 for many people.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is a fairly good film to go and see this weekend. It’s a solid sequel to the first in the series and this time round we get zombies instead of a moving maze to keep our characters busy. Wes Ball has done well with both films in the series so far and managed to keep this second one interesting. It’s only issue is that it spends quite a bit of time at the end building up to a another sequel. But the actors all do a fine job and it was interesting having a look at what was going on outside the maze once everyone was out, if you liked the first one, you’ll likely enjoy this one as well.