Just watched my first 2018 movie. Movie review for ‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’.

‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’ is the third and last installment of the ‘Maze Runner’ film franchise which is based on a series of novel of the same name. In the first movie ‘The Maze Runner’ released back in 2014, Thomas wakes up in a maze with a group of other boys (Newt, Minho, etc) and later a girl (Teresa) with no memory of the outside world other than dreams about an organization known as W.C.K.D. He slowly remembered his past with clues he discovered in the maze and he attempted to escape the deadly maze with the others. In the second movie ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ released a year later in 2015, Thomas and his group (known as Gladers) continued their journey on the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with obstacles (particularly Cranks, the infected victims from the Flare virus that turned to zombie-like creatures) to find more clues about W.C.K.D.. They have uncovered their plan which is to torture the immunes and extract blood from them to be made as a cure to the virus. They have also teamed up with resistance fighters and Minho is captured in the end. Finally, in this last movie ‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’, the group went into W.C.K.D. base in the Last City to rescue Minho and other captured immune kids.

With the quick recap of the whole story explained, now it’s time to move on to my review for this final film. I recommend you to re-watch the first two movies before going to this third one. This movie is quite long (over 2 hours plus) but I am engaged to it from the beginning to its end, thanks to the multiple exhilarating action-packed scenes. The movie is mostly about the mission to enter the enemy’s territory that involves a lot of guns, fights, explosions, and Cranks (the zombies). There is not a a single scene that feels draggy. From the opening scene that involves Mad Max-inspired train hijacking to encounters with Cranks in a tunnel, and then to breaking into the W.C.K.D. labyrinth-like base, everything is fast-paced and thrilling. Besides than actions, the movie also provides time for characters’ development and emotional moments. Conventional young adult films (like The Hunger Games or Divergents) would focus on romance, but this ‘Maze Runner’ series emphasized on friendship (and bromance) and that is what I’m happy about especially from this concluding film that tells a lot more on this aspect. Thomas do love Teresa but nothing much is shown in their relationship (only a quick kiss in the end…sorry for spoiler). Thomas focuses more on his mission to save his friend, Minho and he also reserves most of his emotion to Newt especially in the end when the latter turned into Crank, struggled and killed himself. This movie is doing all the right thing for Newtmas’ fans while staying true to the books. The ending of this movie is an emotional one and it provides a satisfying conclusion to the overall storyline and the friendship between Thomas and Newt.

Dylan O’Brien (as Thomas in the movie) has proven to everyone that he is a great young actor that can take on other more challenging roles from now on (evident from his previous work in ‘American Assassin’). Thomas Brodie-Sangster is perfect for the role of Newt while Ki Hong-lee is also good as Minho. Kaya Scodelario (as Teresa) is also convincing in these three movies altogether. Their chemistry is very good between one another. Although they are just mostly running around in this film series, but I still see effort from them to carry the story through with more matured performances.

The visuals are brilliant. It is obvious that a lot more money is spent on this final installment. The views of the dystopian setting the film is centered on (and views of the Last City) are breathtaking. The set design is also cool (particularly the W.C.K.D. labyrith-like base) while the score is fascinating as well to compliment the visual progression of the movie. This is a very satisfying conclusion to this film series. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’ a total of 8.0. I enjoyed this movie a lot. At one point in the past, I was worried that this final installment will not get to see its release date because of a serious accident involving Dylan O’Brien during the early filming of this movie in 2016. The accident has delayed the production for around a year and filming only resumes last year. I’m glad that Dylan recovered and decided to finish the movie and I  compliment his effort in it after a tragic accident from it that almost took his life.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Movie review: The Maze Runner (2014)

‘The Maze Runner’ is a 2014 science fiction action thriller film based on the novel of the same name. The story follows Thomas, portrayed by O’Brien, who awakens in a rusty elevator with no memory of who he is, only to learn he’s been delivered to the middle of an intricate maze, along with a slew of other boys, who have been trying to find their way out of the ever-changing labyrinth — all while establishing a functioning society in what they call The Glade. The film starred Dylan O’Brien, Aml Ameen, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Will Poulter, Blake Cooper, Kaya Scodelario, etc.

I was already very eager to watch this film when I first saw its trailer few months ago. The trailer itself is already full of thrills and heart-stopping moments when people were seemingly trapped in a huge maze that changes on its own and also contains some kind of deadly creatures. And I’m glad that the movie offers way more than that after I watched it today. Of course, the main selling point of the film is still the amount of thrills, intensity and excitement it offered. The story didn’t start off slowly as the film commenced straight away with Thomas lifted up to the zone in center of the maze, aided and introduced to the group of people who were already there. It’s like things were so fast getting ready for some actions! And I like that. No draggy or boring stuff going on.

There is also no unnecessary romance part lingering around. That’s good. But that is expected since every characters are boys besides than the only girl that joined in the later part of the story. And that makes way for the strong depiction of friendship in the movie. How some can be good friends and cooperate together to find the way out while some whom didn’t quite think the same. So, this isn’t just a shallow movie of people running around, screaming to find the way out of a maze. It’s a story with heartfelt characters that deals with their emotions of being stranded in the middle of the maze.

Of course, like I mentioned earlier, once some or a character gets into the maze, things turned eerie and climatic. The only disappointment is that the maze isn’t really that creatively dangerous enough. It’s only the constantly changing maze blocks and also the spider-like creatures. I was actually hoping for more kind of threatening stuff in the maze like maybe trapping overgrown, sharp points on some floors or corners, etc. But for now, it’s still good enough to offer us the excitement as the story develops to a very interesting end. Won’t reveal it here. But sure to say is that there would be sequel…and the next task for them, the survivors. Opps…a bit of spoiler revealed too.

All the casts are young boys, and a girl. Don’t judge acting by the age. All of them (especially the lead, O’ Brien and all the main supporting roles) delivered fantastic performances in here. On the other hand, the visual effects are good. And I must say that the sound effects are brilliant in this film that helped a lot to carry us into the thrills that the film offered. The story is amazing, but I find that the story came with plot-holes and isn’t fully developed yet. But that’s not a major flaw. The movie still delivered awesome actions and thrills to the audiences. A very engaging and interesting futuristic thriller with intriguing premise of which I enjoyed every bit of it. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Maze Runner’ a total of 7.4.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)