Film Review: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

 Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Cert: 12A

Director: Wes Ball

Screen writer: T.S. Nowlin (screenplay), James Dashner (novel)

Starring: Dylan O'Brien , Ki Hong Lee , Kaya Scodelario , Thomas Brodie-Sangster , Dexter Darden , Alexander Flores , Jacob Lofland , Rosa Salazar , Giancarlo Esposito , Patricia Clarkson , Aidan Gillen , Terry Dale Parks , Kathryn Smith-McGlynn , Lili Taylor , Barry Pepper

Running time: 132 min

Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity:

• During a scene, the main character Thomas (about seventeen) stares at a teenage girl (about seventeen) changing her blouse with her back facing the audience.

• A scene showing a room filled with women wearing harem outfits: low-cut blouses, showing their bellies, and their pants are very thin and silky and the main character kisses two of those women.

Violence & Gore:

• For a Young Adult movie, there is quite a lot of violence which is shocking. Zombie-like creatures are shot at several times throughout the movie, many of them dying.

• A teen boy is caught in between a door being pulled by zombies on one side and his friends on the other. He is bitten somewhere in the chaos, and you can very briefly see bloody marks his stomach. Afterwards, his entire body turns pale and he lifts up his shirt, showing his grey swollen stomach covered with a slimy substance, slightly disturbing. His face turns pale grey and he pukes up a strange red and blackish liquid. Later on, he is handed a gun, then the other people walk away when a gunshot is heard and his suicide is implied. One of the most disturbing/emotional scenes in the movie.

• Two boys are struck by lightning.

• People are shot by taser-like guns, leaving them to collapse to the ground and tremble as their body begins to be electrocuted. This happens various times throughout the movie.

• A woman is shot, showing some blood soaking her shirt.

• During the climax of the movie, tons upon tons of people are shot and killed. There is nothing graphic and most of it is implied, mainly just hearing lots of gunshots and bodies dropping. Explosions of fire are set off while fights ensue during the chaos.

• The zombies are shown quite a lot with full images of their faces being hard to notice as the fly by quickly. Blood covers some of their mouths and their faces look mangled.

• A man is shown tied to a chair with a bloody swollen eye being beat up until he gives another man information.

Profanity: 

• The prior post did not accurately convey how much profanity is used in thivie. First half of there is persistent use of sh** at least 35 times. Multiple uses of he**. Three uses of son of a bi***. Two bas****.

• 3 Exclamations (Shut up).

• One obscene gesture (giving someone the finger). 

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking:

• Two teens are bribed into drinking an alcohol of some sort. They experience hallucinations and their vision blurs slightly.

• One of the teens, a male, sees visions of his friends turned into zombies with horrific pale, grey faces and grievers in front of him from the first movie

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 

• The Scorch houses thousands of zombie-like creatures named 'Cranks.' These are formed by getting bitten by another Crank which leads to people turning grey and pale, making weird disturbing noises.

• The Cranks appear frequently throughout the movie, especially in dark rooms and areas. They often appear as jump scares which may frighten younger viewers. The Cranks themselves groan and scramble towards humans, desperately trying to savage them. Their appearance is quite horrific with some of them having small bits of blood in their mouths.

• Cranks often appear in chase sequences which are really intense.

• There is a lot of violence in this movie, more than a usual Young Adult film. People are attacked by Cranks, shot at and killed. There is certainly more death and violence in this movie than the first one.

• Please be careful about letting young viewers watch this movie as it definitely pushes the 'Young Adult' theme. In some ways, it's like a Young Adult horror movie, featuring disturbing imagery and implied violence.

Story: 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.

Likes : i went in to this film with low expectation after the first film, wasn't a big fan of it as it was explained very well why they were in the maze in in the first place. But this sequel actually caught my attention better with a very intense fast pace action scene, with a back ground story of what is actually going on but still leave's a question of what has turn people in t what i would call mutant zombie like creatures that move very fast.

This film is is incredibly intense and action-packed that you won't want to look away for a moment as it keep the audience hook to the screen. Also, there's a single scene about 35 minutes into the movie that shocked me. It wasn't meant to be a plot twist, but the way they pulled it off was incredible as it reveal what is actually going but not revealing to much.

Unlike the first film there is a betrayal that will shock you from an unlikely character from the first film which just add's the ending, which leaves you thinking that you just sign your own death for betraying them.

Cinematography is amazing show a world is total destruction like some apocalyptic event happen which is slightly revealed in this film, along with it scary moments there are a few jump moments that really do make you jump out of you skin.

As ive said ive never read the book so i can comment on the film from that point of view but this sequel was far better than the first film IMO, im actually looking forward to the third instalment from this franchise.

Dislikes : Some places can be a little predictable, but a better story than the first film, although still leave leaves questions

Overall : Intense & scary moments, more compelling story than the first film.

Rating: 5 out of 5 for entertainment / 8 out of 10 for storyline