The Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
We started with the first movie, so we figured we’d see them all the way through. My boys really enjoy these films, so they wanted to see how the series ended. You can read my reviews for the first film here and the second film here.
The Death Cure picks up where the last one left off, with Thomas attempting to save his friend Minho from the WCKD corporation. The film begins with an elaborate, grandiose train “robbery” to rescue Minho. I was a little confused as to why Minho and the others were being transported on a train, especially since they have pretty advanced jets. I mean, a train is pretty ancient compared to the flying contraption, and it can only move so fast (it wasn’t a super train). If the company was so concerned about a rescue attempt, why make it easy?
Of course, the point was so that Thomas and the other rebels could steal the plane (or jet, I’m not sure what they called in the movie) to be used later in the film. But why would the soldiers in the plane/jet/flying contraption allow themselves to be hijacked? You’re in a plane/jet/flying contraption! You can shoot the rebels from the sky. You don’t need to land and take them into custody. Ugh! Use your brains people!
That was the introduction to the film, and it pretty much set the tone for the rest of the movie. The characters do quite a few things that don’t make a lot of sense, and we don’t get an explanation as to why. As I mentioned in my review of the second film, several of the “immunes” turn out to not be immune, but it’s not explained why. There’s a cryptic comment about them being in the glade with the others so WCKD can tell the immunes from the nonimmunes apart, but that just seems silly. Why waste time and resources on nonimmunes if you’re trying to save the world? And it doesn’t explain why the so-called immunes could still get infected by Grievers.
Like the other films, there was an inordinate amount of running. I even commented that Thomas has been running since the first movie and hasn’t really stopped—he must be getting super tired. Plus, it doesn’t make a lot of sense why he would put himself and his other friends in harm’s way for one person.
Sure, there was the whole promise thing and being true to his word, but at some point I would think that Minho would be like: “Dude, you’re going to die if you come in here. There’s no reason for both of us to be killed.” But maybe Minho is super self-centered and wants others to put themselves at risk to save him. I don’t know. And also: Thomas wouldn’t be the hero and there wouldn’t be a story and we wouldn’t have a dystopian world with a corrupt corporation that has to be destroyed if he didn’t go after his friend. I guess Minho is just a plot device.
The film had its share of action and explosions. It was 141 minutes long and felt every bit of it. The end dragged out for way longer than it needed to be, and then the very end left me shaking my head and asking a ton more questions. I won’t tell you what those were because I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s possible there’s another film and if not, the ending was a WTF? type of ending.
I’m not upset that I watched the movie, but I probably would have survived if I hadn’t seen it. I wasn’t dying to know what happened, and now that I know what happened, I’m bothered by it. Maybe I need to read the books. Maybe they’ll make everything make sense.
Who else has seen these movies? What did you think?
Showing posts with label dystopian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dystopian. Show all posts
YA/NA Sci-Fi & Dystopian Giveaway
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Movie Review Monday
The Maze Runner (2014)
I never had a burning desire to see this film. I saw the previews and knew they were based on a series of books, but that was where my knowledge ended—and where I was happy to let it end. My oldest mentioned a few times he was interested in watching it, but we always found other movies to watch instead.
One night, we went to a banquet with my spouse’s coworkers, and one of them mentioned that he absolutely loved The Maze Runner movie series. He went on about how amazing it was, so we decided to give it a watch.
The movie isn’t terrible. It has the expected elements of a young adult dystopian film: lack of adult figures, with the ones present being untrustworthy; teens who have to rely on themselves and each other to get out of dangerous situations; discontent within the ranks of the teens; creatures that have to be defeated; and an evil entity controlling everything.
I write dystopian stories, so I totally expected all of these elements to be there. I wasn’t surprised, but I wanted to be surprised. I wanted something new to happen that would completely blow me away, but it didn’t. In fact, I thought the film was a bit slow. I didn’t understand why it needed to be almost 2 hours long—and it felt every minute of being almost 2 hours long. Perhaps the goal was to build up the characters and make the audience connect with them, but I didn’t feel connected to them at all.
My kids enjoyed the film. They totally got caught up in the action, and there were moments where they covered their eyes to protect themselves from the scariness that was the Grievers. I’m a huge fan of creatures, but I wouldn’t say these would be in my list of top 10.
The film did make me slightly curious to know what happens in the books. After all, we all know that books and movies are completely different, so what happens in the books that they weren’t able to show on screen? How does the narrative in the story build up the characters and the tension that wasn’t accomplished in the film? I have a long list of books that I want to read, and if I ever get around to reading this series, I’ll let you know.
The Maze Runner was a good movie to entertain us for a night, and I didn’t feel like I completely wasted my time watching it. It was at least intriguing enough to watch the second film (review coming next week), so it had that going for it.
Has anyone else watched this movie? What were your thoughts?
I never had a burning desire to see this film. I saw the previews and knew they were based on a series of books, but that was where my knowledge ended—and where I was happy to let it end. My oldest mentioned a few times he was interested in watching it, but we always found other movies to watch instead.
One night, we went to a banquet with my spouse’s coworkers, and one of them mentioned that he absolutely loved The Maze Runner movie series. He went on about how amazing it was, so we decided to give it a watch.
The movie isn’t terrible. It has the expected elements of a young adult dystopian film: lack of adult figures, with the ones present being untrustworthy; teens who have to rely on themselves and each other to get out of dangerous situations; discontent within the ranks of the teens; creatures that have to be defeated; and an evil entity controlling everything.
I write dystopian stories, so I totally expected all of these elements to be there. I wasn’t surprised, but I wanted to be surprised. I wanted something new to happen that would completely blow me away, but it didn’t. In fact, I thought the film was a bit slow. I didn’t understand why it needed to be almost 2 hours long—and it felt every minute of being almost 2 hours long. Perhaps the goal was to build up the characters and make the audience connect with them, but I didn’t feel connected to them at all.
My kids enjoyed the film. They totally got caught up in the action, and there were moments where they covered their eyes to protect themselves from the scariness that was the Grievers. I’m a huge fan of creatures, but I wouldn’t say these would be in my list of top 10.
The film did make me slightly curious to know what happens in the books. After all, we all know that books and movies are completely different, so what happens in the books that they weren’t able to show on screen? How does the narrative in the story build up the characters and the tension that wasn’t accomplished in the film? I have a long list of books that I want to read, and if I ever get around to reading this series, I’ll let you know.
The Maze Runner was a good movie to entertain us for a night, and I didn’t feel like I completely wasted my time watching it. It was at least intriguing enough to watch the second film (review coming next week), so it had that going for it.
Has anyone else watched this movie? What were your thoughts?
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