Maze Runner: The Death Cure
If you’re a fan of the books, let me be straight up with you… I enjoyed the first book A LOT, I took a long time to force my way through the second and I gave up entirely on the third. My feelings have followed a very similar pattern with the movies, although, overall I have enjoyed the movies much more than the books. I think the problem with The Maze Runner series in general is that it starts off with so much gripping mystery and potential in the first book/movie, tries to give some terrible terrible (did I mention terrible? Truly terrible) answers in the second book/movie and then just gives up on trying to make anything make much sense and tries to smooth it all over with a bunch of action (I’m not sure if the third book is the same as the film in that regard though).
Maze Runner: The Death Cure really kicks off with some fantastic action though! After a failed attempt to rescue my main man, Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his besties devise a very not-well-thought-out plan to break into WCKD headquarters (where they assume he’s being held). The traitorous Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) is still working on a cure to save everyone, so yes – pretty much enabling Minho’s torture (witch!!). An old friend/enemy shows up to save the day and a whole lot of cranks (led by a terrifyingly infected Walton Goggings) plan to take down WCKD once and for all.
Dylan O’Brien, as Thomas, seems well-recovered from his serious on-set accident that set the film’s release date back by a year. He really does have a boy-ish charm about him that makes you root for him no matter how wrong he might be about everything. He gets more room to express emotion in The Death Cure and at times actually made me feel things (at times). In general, the cast struggled to deliver the terrible scripting well, delivering cliché after cliché with as much integrity as they could muster (not much I’m afraid). The exception to this, however, would be Giancarlo Esposito. That guy is in another league and really seemed misplaced in the dystopian teen fiction. Thomas Brodie-Sangster, as Newt, was super cute and British again (I’m not sure what else you would expect him to be, weirdo) and although moments when I’m sure he was supposed to make me feel things couldn’t warm my cold, dead heart, he was still a delight. Minho’s (Ki Hong Lee) story arc was pretty darn ridiculous – but the guy is why these movies are worth watching *heart eyes*.
Really all that makes this movie worth the watch it the action. There’s a lot of it and it’s all pretty well done – no matter how infeasible. Don’t think about the plot or why characters do anything or what the point of watching the last two movies was or why it ends the way it ends, or who the heck Walton Goggins’ character is meant to be or why he was included so briefly or about the dynamic between Thomas, Teresa and Brenda. Just forget all of that and get ready for a really long action sequence.
Rating: M Violence.
FILMGUIDE rating:
