Phase Two begins.
I was pretty lukewarm on The Maze Runner when I first watched it. While the movie, helmed by first-time director Wes Ball, had gorgeous visuals and some strong performances, it didn’t really “grab” me like it did others. The world of Maze Runner contained big ideas, but they felt restrained in the little box from whence they came. And I mean that literally, since most of the film took place in a labyrinthian prison called the “Glade.” However, the new sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, breaks down those barriers and allows the series to explore everything it has to offer — which as it turns out is quite a bit.
In this installment, Thomas and his fellow Gladers search for clues about the dangerous and powerful organization that held them captive in the last movie, the World Catastrophe Killzone Division, or “WCKD.” (Yep, they’re still going with that name.) Their journey takes them to the “Scorch,” a desolate landscape filled with new threats, terrors and obstacles. The biggest of these are “Cranks,” which are basically just zombies, but also the victims of a worldwide virus. With rumors of a resistance forming in the mountains, the Gladers decide to track them down in the hope of learning what WCKD has in store for them.
You’ll definitely want to brush up on your Maze Runner before you see the sequel, as there is next to no recap on the events from the previous film. In fact it picks up right where the first movie left off, and there’s little hand-holding after that. That may detract newcomers — or even folks like me who hadn’t seen The Maze Runner since it first came out last year — but fans of the original will likely appreciate the timesaver. (Also, this kind of lends to one of my chief complaints about the first movie, how the last 20 minutes were all just setup for the sequel. But that’s another conversation altogether.)
Simply put, if Maze Runner was the “escape” movie, then Scorch Trials is the “road” movie of the bunch. Instead of being confined to just a handful of locations, the sequel opens up to vast, ruined cities, sterile compounds and makeshift communities. We really get a sense of the desolate society that these characters live in, and, much like last time, Ball’s confident direction really captures that. Going off the first movie, I can’t imagine The Scorch Trials’ budget being that huge, so just the sheer scale of it is really impressive. That said, the story is pretty lean compared to the first Maze Runner, and ultimately not a whole lot gets done in this second installment. It’s mostly just going from one set piece to another, as the Gladers react accordingly.
Granted, the action is very entertaining (especially when it’s accompanied by John Paesano’s bomb-ass soundtrack). While there are no actual mazes in Maze Runner 2, there sure is a helluva lot of running — running from guards, running from Cranks, running from more guards, more Cranks, sand storms, lightning at one point — it’s… a lot of running. But this gives Dylan O’Brien a chance for his character to become more of a leader this time around, and not just an audience surrogate. While there’s still a good mystery afoot, Thomas asks fewer questions and attempts to find answers on his own, which makes the sequel a more interesting watch.
The movie also includes new characters, which helps flesh things out even more. Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito shows up as a ruthless gang leader, along with his adopted daughter Brenda, played by Rosa Salazar, both of whom turn in great performances in this. Salazar in particular gets some great scenes with O’Brien later in the movie. There’s also Firefly’s Alan Tudyk, who makes a brief, but fun, appearance as a wasted club owner. The only downside to this is that some of the old characters get lost in the shuffle, like Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Minho (Ki Hong Lee) and Frypan (Dexter Darden).
Meanwhile, the bad guys are still pretty goofy. Patricia Clarkson reprises her villainous role from the last movie, and Game of Thrones’ Aidan Gillen plays her glorified attack dog. Both actors are good at twirling their mustaches, but their characters never really strike fear in the way they should. The same goes for the zombies, which are mostly played-out at this point.
The story is much lighter this time out, but Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials nevertheless improves upon the first movie. The world is bigger, the stakes are higher and there’s a lot more to sink your teeth into. While some of the characters don’t really click — most notably the bad guys — the visual scope and exploration give the sequel some much-needed breathing room. It’s still easy to draw comparisons to other young adult fiction like The Hunger Games and Divergent, but unlike the first Maze Runner, this second installment stands apart.
