Bit
of background. I didn't much like the first Maze
Runner
film. I found it dull and uninspired, coming far too late to the pack
of YA adaptations with a terminal lack of original ideas. I
didn't review it, but if I had, it would have probably been a
THREE/FOUR out of 10.
The
second one's better. Though
better is a relative term.
The
Partially Educated Review
Mockingjay
Part 12
In 50 Words or Less: Noticeably improved from the original, with some solid (but unoriginal) setpieces to ramp up the excitement that the first film lacked. The cast are solid, but the original characters are still dull, while some interesting new additions fall victim to under-development. The fatigue of dystopian YA also continues.
In Detail: Having
escaped from the maze (thus raising the question why they bother
mentioning the damn thing in the title), our prerequisite group of
mopey young heroes take shelter with people fighting against the
organisation that held them in the maze (WCKD, a name that's funny
when they say it and hilarious when you hear what it stands for).
It's not long though before the motives of their new allies are
bought into question. Could it be that they aren't as noble as they
first seemed? (Clue: they aren't)
The
reason why Scorch
Trials
is better than it's predecessor is simple: there's a bit more going
on. The first film's focus on character over action is flipped: a
wise decision given that a character driven piece only holds interest
if those characters aren't a group of surly teenagers. It's also not
bothered about wrapping it's young audience in some sort of soft,
protective material. I advise consideration if you're planning to
take a pre-teen to this because your average 8 year-old will likely
shit his/herself at some of the more, shall we say, intense moments. I can state that with confidence because I witnessed one
8 year-old (guessed age) stage some sort of meltdown, forcing a quick
evacuation of the cinema by one pissed off looking parent.
The
action sequences are what add a lot of the excitement...
...and
they're really well-made, though they befit the franchise's lack of
imagination. All of them are a mishmash of scenes that you've seen
before. In particular, the likes of 28
Days Later (yep,
those are the bits that push the 12A certificate to the max) and
Jurassic
Park 2
get the sort of tribute that borders on copyright infringement.
 |
| This bit, if you're wondering. |
The
film isn't shy about introducing new characters either. In fact, it's
probably a little too eager to throw in as many as it can. Though
this leads to underdevelopment, the mercy of it is that a lot of
these new characters are played by adults, meaning a lot less puberty
woes. That's not to entirely denigrate the young casts' competence as
performers, as the franchise has always had fairly solid hands in
this respect. It's just good to see someone who's not an eye-covering
fringe away from the emo-kid stereotype that I thought dead in 2005.
Familiarity
is also an issue. If someone came along and declared a 5-year ban on
further YA adaptations upon completion of all current franchise, I
wouldn't be too distraught. In fact, it's reached the point now where
Mockingjay
Part 2
is the only one that fills me with any interest. Though I actually
consider the Divergent
series a worse offender in paint by numbers cinema, The
Maze Runner
really only has a male protagonist and sensible character names to
distance itself from the Hunger
Games
franchise. With Mockingjay
Part 1
boring a proportion of it's audience last year (not me, I liked it),
there are elements of this film that will royally drag for that same
audience when they realise it's a near identical film, with zombies.
However, when
I say The
Scorch Trials
is better than The
Maze Runner,
it's not by some small margin. It's a noticeable improvement that
director Wes Ball deserves credit for, along with his merciful
refusal to split the final book into two films. If that level of
improvement occurs next time around, we'll probably have a pretty
damn good finale to enjoy. IF
that level of improvement occurs.
SIX
out of 10
