Blu-Ray Review – Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Blu-ray Reviews, Film, Reviews, Top Story

When we were first introduced to the world of Maze Runner, the film adaptation of the hit youth adult series, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) was dropped into the middle of a Glade with no memory of his past. Dropped into a Lord of the Flies type environment, Thomas would wind up trying to figure out why they were all there. The further down the rabbit hole he got the more he realized there was something much grander going on than someone who likes seeing what happens with teenagers trapped on an island.

Escaping with the remaining Gladers at the end of the first film, Thomas, Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Teresa Agnes (Kaya Scodelario), Frypan (Dexter Darden) and Winston (Alexander Flores) are taken to a facility run by Mr. Janson (Aidan Gillen). His facility is a safe haven from WCKD, the big bad Umbrella Corporation of this universe, and thus they think they’re safe. Unfortunately they’re not and now it’s time for Thomas and his friends to experience the world for the first time. The world has been ravaged by the Flare virus, among other things, and there only hope is to find like minded individuals in the Scorched Earth to be able to fight back.

It’s an interesting choice to take the film franchise, as it goes from an interesting take on Flies into a more straight up action film. The Scorch Trials is interesting this way; we’re following the group that escape through the dangers of the new world they’ve been sheltered from for so many years.

The film’s problem is that it suffers by being a middle chapter. We don’t know where we’re going, only where we’ve been, and this is a film that is trying to get us to the end point. This is a three film story, as it was a three book series (with two prequel novels), and this is more exposition than advancement of the story. We’re developing the roots of what should be an interesting finale but right now they’re world-building.

It’s slow at times and the film needs the trilogy to be completed to really find its footing.

A commentary track, some EPK pieces, deleted & extended scenes as well as the usual behind the scenes pieces are included.

20th Century Fox presents The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. Directed by Wes Ball. Written by T.S. Nowlin, based on the novel by James Dashner . Starring Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Jacob Lofland, Rosa Salazar, Aidan Gillen, Giancarlo Esposito, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor, Patricia Clarkson. Run Time: 129 minutes Rated PG-13. Released on DVD: 12.15.15