Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) Reviews

• How to make an entire book fandom hate you

  maddisonfield2015-09-11

  I am so unbelievably unhappy with this movie! The writer of the script has completely dissed the original most exciting plot from the books to some stupid ridiculous mainstream apocalyptic story. None of this happens in the book. None of it makes sense. It's called "The Scorch Trials" as in trials from wickd. Not some stupid escape adventure! I was so excited for this movie and I'm going to be honest, I left the cinema fuming with anger. If you're going to create a movie based on a book, actually go by the book plot. Don't make you're own and expect everyone to be happy with it. I'm sure the writer of the movies just ticked off an entire fandom.

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• Original Story Line Butchered so Badly the Film Lost it's Cohesion

  femmegirl-976662015-09-26

  It is as if the concern of the producers and story writers were so focused on the movie's DBOX worthiness that they forgot to include the story line. I went to this movie with two friends that have not read the books, as I have. Both walked out of the movie confused..."Where did the virus come from?" was the first question that they asked. The beginning of the movie should have included the reason why W.I.C.K.E.D. created the Maze, explained what the Flare is, and introduced both groups of Maze runners. Instead, the audience is lost in visual effects without knowing why the action is happening. To add insult to injury, the writers turn the virus infected people into inhuman, biologically altered zombies. The immune are now a commodity for a short term fix to the virus problem. So much has been lost by these adaptations that the result is a vague and confusing zombie flick. I almost walked out. This was a wonderful book that should have been an incredible movie.

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• What the Hell…?

  aprilhoffmann2015-09-28

  Short version: Read the book, but don't see the movie. OR, go see the movie, but don't read the book. Just DON'T do both. Long version: There really are no words to describe how far away this movie was from the book. It was like going into a theater expecting to see The Terminator, and seeing Braveheart instead. Both great movies, but NOTHING similar about them. Besides the character names, lightening, and some sand, NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING about this movie resembled ANY part of the book. Nothing. I read the book in one day, two days before I saw this movie. I was so excited to see this fantastic book come to life, and I left sorely disappointed. I'm not sure if the author of the book was involved at all in the decisions that went into the writing of this movie, but they completely bastardized, completely changed EVERYTHING about his story. Even the core motivation behind the 'who and the why' was different. It simply was not the same story at all. I've seen many books made into movies and I'm familiar with the huge and often disappointing changes they inevitably make, but this was off the charts. I've never seen anything like it. If you haven't read the books, then go see it. It was fun enough. But please don't bother if you enjoyed the original story; because it's a completely different one.

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• Not so a-maze-ing

  oskar-mellblom982015-09-24

  I really enjoyed watching the first Maze Runner but I didn't think this was quite as good. The Scorch Trials got some great and intense, action packed scenes, good acting and cool environments but that's it. If you liked the first movie you may like this too or you may get a little disappointed. Don't have so high hopes on this movie.I still enjoyed it a bit but I think it got many bad parts. I'm not a fan of zombies so I hated the Idea with zombies in the desert or (infected people with a virus, Cranks). Everything is about Thomas in this movie. Everyone knows him and he does not know them. He does not even want to know who they are. That's so weird. I got tired of everyone calling his name. It felt like there was never a scene without Thomas in it. I think the most irritating part is that Thomas and the others do everything they can to escape from the "WICKED", they go out in the scorch and some of them dies. Later on one friend of his is getting caught by the WICKED again and Thomas decides that he will turn around. They barely even made it out from the scorch and now they turn back after 2hours of the film because one friend got caught? (also because he realized he wants to fight the WICKED now and not run away anymore). It felt like a meaningless adventure. I think they could just skip to the 3rd movie right away.

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• Back to the same YA adaption you've seen before....

  dan62882015-09-20

  While the first Mazerunner set itself away from the pack of YA Dystopian future film adaptations, Scorch Trials jumps on the bandwagon. I even got them all confused at one point. Isn't there a 'scorch' and a 'wall' that prevents those why-are-we-so-dangerous Divergents from crossing the void? Isn't there a great dictator and our 'only hope' youngling who vows to 'kill' him/her in Hunger Games? Isn't there a group of important-but-we-don't-really-know-why kids running around in Kanye West's latest fashion line in both of those films? The first Mazerunner kept the mystery, pace, energy, and most importantly action, all at such a great length and mood of importance, that it was hard not to like. Scorch Trials tries to keep that energy, but this time around it feels forced and misdirected. Not to mention the run-time that is completely unnecessary. Like 'Mad Max' the plot is thin. They escape, they run, they escape again, run some more, a little bit more escaping, they run again, they escape once more, and end the film with.... we have to go back and 'finish' this. Finish what?! What is so damn important?! We don't know because the whole film works like a long filler episode of television. Just as two characters are about to reveal hidden memories to one another or answer important plot questions, they stop! I find that to be unbearable and annoying (especially since it occurs several times from beginning to end.)You never have a single conversation end in this film. It's all hints, hints... nothing. And once the film ends, it ends with two lines that make no sense. "I'm going to kill her." Why? Does that stop WKD? Nope. Then a response. "What is your plan?" --as our hero responds with a look out in the distance-- we cut to black..... because you don't have a f*cking plan. Because none of you have a f*cking plan. There is a constant mood in this film, and the Divergent films, and the Hunger Games, that something is important, some kind of a minuscule idea is important, but we're gonna take 8 films to kinda-sorta find out what that important thing is. Consensus? I now consider the first Mazerunner a great film that'll have to stand on its own. Skip Scorch, or wait for DVD. The good things? One or two moments of action (not scenes) that are well done. And in general the scope, set pieces, and CGI are top notch.

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