Maze Runner: The Death Cure Review

PG13:  for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, and some thematic elements

20th Century Fox

 2 Hr and 22 Minutes

Dir:  Wes Ball | Writer: T.S. Nowlin

Cast:  Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen, Walton Goggins, Ki Hong Lee, Barry Pepper, Will Poulter, Patricia Clarkson

INTRO: “The Maze Runner” film series has to be the “The Little Engine That Could” of YA novel trilogies. Ever since “The Hunger Games” series ended, it was either fight or flight with other YA film series competitors. The "Divergent" Series' low ticket sales got the last film canceled, so everyone’s eyes went on “The Maze Runner” which was one their second film at the time. It didn’t make things better once lead Dylan O’Brien was injured while trying to be Tom Cruise by performing his own stunts. But now after years of waiting, we have finally gotten to “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” the finale to a trilogy that actually got to finish its story. Great job Fox.

In the epic finale to The Maze Runner Saga, Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary last city, a WCKD controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get the answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze. Will Thomas and the crew make it out alive? Or will Ava Paige get her way?

TOO MUCH ACTION MAY OR MAY NOT BE A GOOD THING

One of the most positive things about The Maze Runner films that people can attest to is that one it comes to action; they know how to deliver. The way how this film opens with its extravagant action sequence is just a little taste of how amazing the action in this movie was going to be. At its core, this third entry is a tremendous action-packed roller coaster from beginning to end. Whatever character development or arc you would expect in this finale is absent because its focus is to get this story completed by whatever means necessary. Every action sequence in “The Death Cure” has a right level of creativity that it’ll make fans of the book series happy to see elements of the book adapted on screen.

The movie practically says, “You know these characters. Assume that you love them. We got a story to finish. Let’s do this.” From that point, it never seems to stop the brakes to take a breather. It is exhilarating and fun for the most part, but its almost the equivalent to riding a car with a dude pumped on adrenaline. At first, it's exciting, but at a certain point you scream, “Okay I've had enough. I want to get off this ride now.” But alas he doesn’t let you get off.  By the third act, it goes so balls to the wall chaotic that by that point it becomes both numb and somewhat formulaic. 

Why do I say that? Well, the number one thing an action film should be accomplished is the element of surprise. I don’t think I’ve never seen a movie that relied so much on surprises that
it ruined its own element of surprise. There's one thing to have your film rely on coincidences, but instead, this tries its best to keep you gasping within every ten minutes. The only surprising thing about this movie is the return of a character whose motives are spun and entire 180 with no explanation. Granted he steals the show within every frame he’s onscreen, this character is the ultimate plot twist of the movie. But this occurs within the first hour, and everything after that is just a series of plot twist after plot twist and then the kitchen sink. 

I really loved this franchise for being slightly different from other YA adaptations that tried to be so much like “The Hunger Games,” but then by the third act, this just turns into The Hunger Games where this rebellion against WCKD just happens out of nowhere. We follow Thomas and his friends throughout the whole movie but the way they utilized this revolution against WCKD is such a secondary subplot that the correlation between the two just doesn’t match together.

AIDAN THE ASSHOLE

Before 2017, I liked watching films that had Aidan Gillen in em. That was until the summer of 2017 where I started to watch “Game of Thrones” where we know him best as Lord Petyr Baelish. After watching that series from season one to seven, I just started to despise the dude because of how manipulatively slimy he was. His character of Janson in the second film was evil, or some might as well say WCKD (VERY SUBTLE JAMES DASHNER), but here he is just as slimy as Baelish. In every scene, you see him creepily lurking in the background ready to manipulate minds with his accent and charm. Every action that Janson does is so reminiscent of Baelish that if you have seen “GoT” it’ll sort of take you out of the movie. Sorry, Gillen, you play slimy so well that when I look in a thesaurus, I’m going to replace the definition with your face. There is a scene where Ava Paige is in her home looking over the city and out of the dark Janson just walks out of nowhere to approach her. My friend turned to me at this scene and questioned, "Wait are they fucking," because it makes little to no sense why he's in her house other than that reason. 

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU FINISHED YOUR STORY ON A GOOD NOTE

When it comes to film series ending their stories, some are sent off on a high note (“Harry Potter”) or with a sour one (“Hunger Games”), this is solid enough that it just feels the right about of satisfying. Director Wes Ball knew it wasn’t going to split this conclusion into two films, so its refreshing to have this conclusion feel like a real conclusion.  Honestly, it does many things that “Mockingjay: Part 2” failed to do in my opinion. One of the primary issues I had with “Mockingjay: Part 2” was the fact how nearly every character death was just breezed through as if the audience didn’t care. When Finnick and Prim were killed off it wasn’t emotional at all for the movie just kept moving. Now when people die in this, it is moving and sad. Even if you don’t feel much attachment to a character, you have to respect that once someone kicks the bucket, the emotion is rightfully justified. 

LAST STATEMENT

With an abundant amount of action sequences that makes you question if you’re watching a  dystopian “Fast & Furious” film, “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” is a solid conclusion to an unnecessary trilogy that book fans and moviegoers can both hopefully enjoy.

Rating: 3/5 | 68%

Super Scene: What up Gladers? I’m a good guy now!