I swear one of these movies they’re gonna tell us what the maze was for. Good luck if you’re looking for answers to that particular question – and, sorry, I need a little more than “the maze was a test.” A test of what? And why? In non-dystopia, people build complicated open-area multi-million dollar structures generally to see if my ball team can beat your ball team. I didn’t see no “Maze Ball,” so what gives? You want to test kids? “Here’s a pen. Here’s some paper. There are questions on the board.” The Maze Runner world is one that lacks for any resource one can name besides sand and crazy. Now, are you gonna tell me what you built the damn mazes for or not?
Yes, “mazes” is correct. The survivors of the first film have now been taken to an enclosed labyrinth of sorts where they meet survivors from other mazes … and everybody gets put in a cafeteria where daily lottery winners get hung on a wall and sucked dry for eternity. Of course, the kids don’t know they’ve been played, cuz, why would WCKD go to all the trouble of weeding out random survivors of an elaborate experiment just to hang ‘em on a wall?
And “WCKD?” Seriously, you’re not fooling anybody. I don’t care if you are “Defying Gravity,” ‘cuz you certainly aren’t defying identity. Get this, WCKD is wicked. Go figure.
Head shank Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) is back and he still can’t remember stuff, but he knows he’s being lied to and he’s not wild about the regulated nature of their post-maze freedom. It’s hard not to dislike facility head Janson (Aidan Gillen); it’s a shame the auto industry has long since eaten itself, because this guy is the consummate used car salesman. But using the conveniently large and convenient air conditioning tunnels, Thomas and his new pal Aris (Jacob Lofland) learn the truth, collect their pals and escape the fortress.
There’s a lot of chasing in this film; often it involves large armed security people running down weapon-challenged boys. Sometimes it involves mad zombies chasing down weapon-challenged boys. Sometimes, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials throws us for a loop and adds in a girl. Brenda (Rosa Salazar) has a very boyish haircut so that maybe we won’t get alarmed when the boy/girl ratio drops below 17:1. In Maze Runner, the entire set was a fabrication. We know this is the future, but we’re in the dark as to what has been presented, society-wise
. Scorch Trials shows what cities have become. When the boys escape into the open air, there are ruins and sand and little else. The signs of a past civilization exist, but that civilization is now overrun by humanoids who have absolutely no respect for a Starbucks.
For a non-horror film, Scorch Trials actually had the best horror moment I’ve seen this year. It involves sewer plant people, ewwwww. Of the teen-oriented dystopian futures, I put this one in between Hunger Games and Divergent. Yes, it has a bunch of problems – I don’t believe for a second the kids have any power here and there’s no reason they should – um, you got plenty of meathooks and a whole lot of security guys … why do these kids ever get to the trouble-causing stage in the first place? Still, I’m sucked in by the puzzle and the chase. I always did like mazes. Your results may differ.
♪I got a certain escapee she’s on my mind
Outside here there’s freedom we’ll find
Zombies claim lives and we’re bereft
Almost as bad as the place we left
Scorch scorch
I thought I almost found someone nice
Scorch scorch
Not the kinda people to give advice
Scorch scorch
This whole country is a barren waste
Scorch scorch
And yet, not the worst that I have faced♫
Rated PG-13, 132 Minutes
D: Wes Ball
W: T.S. Nowlin
Genre: Our screwed future
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Doomsday prognosticators
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Authoritarians
♪ Parody inspired by “Hush”
