Plot
After having escaped the Maze, the Gladers now face a new set of challenges on the open roads of a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles.
Release Year: 2015
Rating: 7.2/10 (5,173 voted)
Critic's Score: 39/100
Director: Wes Ball
Stars: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster
Storyline
In this next chapter of the epic "Maze Runner" saga, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD's vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.
Writers: T.S. Nowlin, James Dashner
Cast: Dylan O'Brien -
Thomas
Ki Hong Lee -
Minho
Kaya Scodelario -
Teresa
Thomas Brodie-Sangster -
Newt
Dexter Darden -
Frypan
Alexander Flores -
Winston
Jacob Lofland -
Aris Jones
Rosa Salazar -
Brenda
Giancarlo Esposito -
Jorge
Patricia Clarkson -
Ava Paige
Aidan Gillen -
Janson
Terry Dale Parks -
Carl (Masked Man)
Kathryn Smith-McGlynn -
Dr. Crawford
Lili Taylor -
Mary
Barry Pepper -
Vince
Trivia:
Australian actress Adelaide Kane was fancasted to play the role of Brenda but couldn't get the part due to scheduling conflicts. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
Let's get this straight out of the way. If you are tired of movies
based on books that present a young cast, you won't find something here
to convert you. However if you found the first movie to be a
surprisingly entertaining, solid action flick;or if you don't mind the
age of the main characters as long as the story deliveries, there's
plenty to like here. Specially because there are some improvements over
the flaws of the first film.
The action sequences are gripping, well directed and have a feel of raw
realism. It's evident that the ensemble of actors- young or mature-
gave it all physically. It seems as though the stunts doubles had
little to do in comparison to the average action flick.
If in the first movie you got 2 or 3 action scenes to keep you in the
edge of your seat,in The scorch trials you'll find action almost from
the beginning.I'm not a fan of non-stop action, but I was particularly
impressed with Barry Pepper who I heard filmed his action scenes with a
broken ankle.
The acting is extremely good. Not only the young lead Dylan O'Brien and
his young co-stars, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Rosa Salazar and
Thomas Brodie Sangter, deliver strong performances, but also the
supporting cast of mature actors. By the way if you have read or heard
that the very talented supporting cast of mature actors is there only
for their paychecks or that "they have better things to do" you are
hearing a biased opinion by unprofessional reviewers who are tired of
"YA adaptations". But just because some reviewers are tired of this
"subgenre" doesn't mean that plenty of talented cast and crews aren't
fully involved with these kind of stories in spite of the studios
greedy intentions.
This movie might not be perfect, might not be for everyone but one
thing that you can tell for sure is that Barry Pepper, Alan Tudik,
Aidan Gillen, Lily Taylor, Patricia Clarkson and particularly Giancarlo
Esposito gave it all. They have amazing chemistry with the very
talented young cast and they seem to be screaming "100% commitment to
my role". It became clear to me through their committed performances
that they believed in the project and that they trust the director Wes
Ball. There's plenty of character development opportunities and these
mature actors take advantage of them all even if their screen time is
limited. Ava Paige as played by Patricia Clarkson started the movie as
the archetypal "evil scientist" and by the end of the movie I was
somehow rooting for her. She really needs to find a cure to this
mysterious disease called "the flare". Giancarlo Esposito started
limited by a role that seemed at first written to fulfill a quota of
the typical "evil adult vs. innocent kid" trope. However, as the movie
moves on we discover that he is far from being a cartnoonish "evil
adult" and that his character is full of humanity. A scene in which he
is concerned over his protegé was one of my favorites of a film from
which I was only expecting mindless entertainment and non-stopping
action.
The problem is that this brilliant cast was limited by a script that
seemed to go nowhere. I'd say the script it's not as strong as the one
of the first movie and that script wasn't particularly good to begin
with. There are some improvements. This time some clichéd lines have
gone away, there's more backbone to the characters and a little more of
"showing-not-telling". But if you are thinking that everything that
didn't make sense in the first one will make sense in this movie you
might end up disappointed.
One more time the movie ends in a cliffhanger although this time
there's not a last minute info-dump. If you don't mind these minor
flaws on the script you might end up enjoying the ride.
In my opinion, the strongest part of the movie, besides the thrilling
action and good acting are the visuals. I enjoyed the shots of the
scorch because the cinematographer took plenty of risks. I want to see
the movie again just to appreciate these shots better. There were also
interesting shots in terms of composition.
The VFX is extremely well executed. I thought the director was going to
get overboard with the CGI usage but he wisely balanced the visual
effects with the emotional arc to take the audience to a journey
through this devastated lands in which under each nook, each skeleton
building lies a new danger, a new story, a new world which I'd love to
explore.
As if this wasn't enough to make me want to see the movie again, Joe
Paesano's score (Daredevil TV series, The maze runner) was masterfully
used and added a special feeling to the already beautiful visuals. Mark
my words, Paesano's scores will get him an Oscar somewhere in the near
future.
The scorch trials has everything to become a huge international box
office success because is a solid, yet imperfect second chapter, that
will keep audiences entertained and screaming for chapter 3.
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