Maze Runner: The Death Cure hits theaters on January 26th.
By Leo Newmark
When I attended a press screening of Wes Ball’s new film Maze Runner: The Death Cure, I was not disappointed. The final chapter of this long-enduring film franchise, based on the novels by James Dashner, starts off with a bang and keeps the audience generally engaged throughout the ride of climactic action sequences and heartbreaking death scenes, while simply conflicting our emotions and proper judgements all around. The film carries through with many of the smaller themes that were set up for the franchise in the last two films, and we are reunited with some old faces — including the least expected one of all!
This story takes place a year after the cliffhanger ending to The Scorch Trials, set in what remains of the world after solar flares have scorched the Earth and a virus has taken hold of humanity. The story follows Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his friends as they and the Right Arm make their last stand to defeat the oppressive WCKD (the World Catastrophe Killzone Department), an organization determined to study our immune protagonists as a way to find a cure for the Flare Virus as it slowly wipes the Earth clean of the human race. Our main group attempts to break into the lion’s den, the very headquarters of WCKD itself! All in an effort to save immunes such as their friend Minho from genuinely brutal treatments from this cruel and truly wicked organization. However, the unexpected truths that are given to us in the end will make your jaw drop.
Beyond The Death Cure, these stories in general have a lot to teach us about simply being human and allow for us to think of how far we’d go for the greater good. At what point is the line drawn? The telling of lies? Constant betrayals? The murdering of children? This film concludes the franchise brilliantly while exhibiting such considerations from beginning to end. If there will ever be one franchise that may serve the purpose of preventing history from repeating itself, so to speak, it is this one. Through its teaching us the incorrect way to treat others in such a drastic measure as is the potential extinction of the human race, we are allowed to reflect upon our own behaviors in the now and think of how our decisions may affect others – whether for the better or worse. And so, this film’s expensive CG (computer generated) work is definitely not going to waste, unlike other films I have reviewed which have performed extensive computer generated action sequences… simply to perform extensive computer generated action sequences.
The Maze Runner film franchise brilliantly comes to full closure and, after much loss, we finally get to see Thomas and most of the other Gladers find peace and the opportunity for a new beginning. Wait, most of the other Gladers? Who doesn’t make it? Well, guess you’ll just have to watch the film to find out!
Furthermore, you don’t have to like any specific genre to enjoy this film, as despite a few rather prolonged sequences, it quenches all expectations anticipated by the audience. It has it all; from post-betrayal friendship-related drama (sounds like a soap opera!) to suspenseful rescue missions to heartbreaking death scenes to scientific inquiries to simply fantastic visual effects and cinematography! And despite a superfluous, and nearly overwhelming, count of situations wherein our protagonists are stuck in a dangerous situation, every single way out of such situations absolutely defies our expectation of a cliché escape. All the way from dangling city buses to characters jumping out of skyscraper windows! This film does not do the other two justice, but separate to the rest of the franchise, despite the film’s extremely prolonged last scenes, Maze Runner: The Death Cure is a meaningful — and humorous at times — action-packed adventure and its large-scale visuals and excellent quality of acting prove the end product to be well worth your money.
I give Maze Runner: The Death Cure an A-.
TV and City 