Maze Runner: The Scorch Trails Falls Flat

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trails is out in UK theaters (US September 18, 2015) and our Jordan Samuel has the maze already solved for you with our ComiConverse review.

The first Maze Runner, was pretty decent but it failed to capture something unique for the young adult crowd, and possessed a shameless ending that felt very cheap indeed. But fast forward to 2015 and the sequel has arrive - albeit with so-so results.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is the first slice at dystopian sci-fi action in 2015, with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 releasing this November. In spite of the name, The Scorch Trials does not has few mazes, fewer trails and nothing at all getting burnt; except perhaps this franchise's future.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

With all the young adult adaptions releasing this year, I was mostly excited for this one because the first was pretty decent and sequels are usually better than the originals right?

Summary:

In this next chapter of the Maze Runner saga, Thomas and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as W.C.K.D. 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.

But with all the hype around this sequel, does it succeed?

Not really.

This film flops for many reasons which include a really unsatisfying plot and bad pacing.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trails feels a lot more relaxed than the previous outing, with the decent direction, but it sadly fails to develop these characters and saddles them with some dreadful dialog.

Dylan O'Brien's "Thomas", Thomas Brodie-Sangster's "Newt", Ki Hong Lee's "Minho" and Kaya Scodelario's "Teresa" are all out of the maze, but only get a few seconds of respite before again entering the post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Dylan O'Brien is brilliant as Thomas, which is odd because everything else surrounding him is so mediocre, with the other cast members often giving sleepy performances throughout the movie; having said that, Thomas Brodie-Sangster does do well as Newt.

The biggest disappointment was Kaya Scodelario's "Teresa", who hardly speaks a word in this movie, making you feel detached from her character. This is something that shouldn't  happen for character development in a mature franchise, making Kaya's presence feel wasted in this sequel.

We also see glimpses of romance, but for some reason those sequences felt rushed in this 2 hour film, and probably should have wound up on the cutting room floor.  These characters do not feel fleshed-out enough for moments like these to work well.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

I also noticed how different the movie was compared to the book, which is strange but perhaps this is due to the film's length. Hopefully, some of the missing elements will be covered in the next edition - Maze Runner: The Death Cure - which is currently planned to be released on February 17, 2017.

Action in this sequel is comprised of endless sequences that see the gang running through the Scorch, which works for the most part, but don't expect any Mad Max: Fury Road type choreography here.

I feel like Director Wes Ball needs more guidance in those aspects of storytelling.

I'm also not impressed with the script, which felt so boring at times, and it really ruined the whole film for me.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is a pretty average and unsatisfying sequel, which does not reach the original in quality and will probably be on DVD in the following months.

Hopefully the next outing Maze Runner: The Death Cure follows up with better results.

Currently, the Maze Runner franchise is running in circles.

Jordan Samuel is the Lead Film Critic for ComiConverse. Follow him on Twitter: @LoadingBa